Imposter
by The WGPM
Summary: Shauna thought it was charming. The Froakie thought it was hilarious. Serena thought it was so strange that no one really suspected the quiet, clumsy teen she just moved in next to. It thought the humans were all so fascinating. This is the story of the Pokémon that became the Champion of Kalos. (Based on a playthrough of Pokémon X, using only Ditto. Slight AU.) Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Helloo~**

 **So before we begin I'd like to say a few things. One, this is a completely new fandom for me, so... this was a step out of the comfort zone, but I've been excited about this one. For those of you who knew me from somewhere else, hi, welcome back, hope you know a lot about Pokémon. Everyone else, that goes for you, too: as this is based on a playthrough I did of Pokémon X, knowledge on the plot of that game (or Y, that's good too) is _highly_ recommended.**

 **Although I did have to take some... creative liberties for some of it to work. Or because I think it would be interesting to surprise you with alternate versions of certain characters. The biggest example I can give right now is that Grace, the player character's mother, is no longer a Rhyhorn racer but a Ditto trainer. You'll see as things progress what I changed, but most of them are pretty minor. If it bothers you, slap an AU on this story, because essentially that's what it is.**

 **That being said, this story is based solely on the _games._ Levels, natures, IVs, stats and abilities exist, even if they aren't exactly flaunted. Animé/manga versions of characters are not what we're looking at here either, so it wouldn't hurt to keep this in mind.**

 **Also, I know I'm going to get yelled at for capitalizing the names of Pokémon species and certain other things, so just - don't waste your time telling me not to, because I'm doing it. (And since Ditto as a species are genderless, I will be using the pronoun 'it' to refer to them. That's the most simple way to do it, at least that I can think of.)**

 **The cover image was created by me. I might make a better one in the future, but that's what we're going with for now.**

 **And, I tend to write longish A/Ns, so... get used to that sorry?**

 **I don't own Pokémon. Let's go!**

* * *

 _Every region's Champion has their defining feature. Cynthia of Sinnoh is one of the most powerful, Alder of Unova one of the most accomplished, and Sun of Alola one of the youngest. Those who hold the title vary in age, gender, motivation, strategy, and appearance. But they each have one thing in common: none were named Champion by default. They were each the most hardworking trainers in their region and each earned their place through the deepest collaboration with their partners._

"Hm," Grace skimmed the article, head resting on one hand. Kalos, she had quickly discovered, was a proud and pompous region. There was no doubt this was just another article about the wealthy Champion Diantha and her latest antics. Grace would gain nothing from this description of Champions, just setup for the shocking new information that Kalos' was the best. Nothing interesting or particularly newsworthy; she set the paper down.

"Mom," she heard a familiar voice whine. "Have you seen my Pokédex? I can't find it anywhere and I know it was in my bag..."

She looked up and found it laying right on the table next to her. Oh well; that was how parenting was sometimes.

"Wha-" She raised her voice. "Calem, you goof. It's right here."

Calem approached from behind, eyeing the machine. "Ten prize money says that isn't it."

Catching on, she cautiously poked at the item and sighed. "You're right. Cut it out, Ditto."

Slowly, it began to bubble and lose color, fading to a light purple. Soon enough it took the form of a gelatinous blob, complete with a crude face painted on.

Calem raised a finger, but Grace was faster. "I'm not paying you."

The teen 'hmph'-ed. "I have all of _these_ for you, too."

At that point he dropped five more Pokédexes on top of her head. As they hit the couch they all Transformed back as well, contenting themselves with crawling around their trainer's furniture. Unlike her son, Grace was not annoyed. She was smiling; only one of them was human, but she was raising an army of goofs.

"Well, good luck finding it. Maybe if you cleaned your room sometime..."

She let that fragment sit there, and Calem stalked away. "Never mind if I cleaned my room. If you trained anything but Ditto we wouldn't have this proble-" Suddenly he looked up sharply and was instantly taken aback.

In front of him, holding his Pokédex smugly, was an exact carbon copy of himself. Same hair, same face, same clothes, same bag. He narrowed his eyes, his hand held out.

"Give it, if you would."

The other Calem did so and grinned mechanically. The teen would have been amused, but the image of himself was too surreal for him to care.

"And could you tell this one to stop turning into me all the time? It's really, really weird!"

This Grace chuckled at. "Imposter does what it wants," she explained, returning her attention to a different news article. Calem left and closed the front door behind him.

The Ditto in question put a hand flat on her head and she looked up. They both understood its gratitude.

"Don't worry about him," she insisted. "He's a good trainer and he will become what he wants. He'll realize one day that you should be able to, as well. What do you want to become?"

Imposter stepped back and blinked. It moved its arms as if to gesture to itself.

"That's right," she agreed. "You want to become a human. Well, then I want you to become the humanest human humankind has ever seen."

Imposter's eyes closed with its smile. "Ditto," it cheered.

 _This is the story of the first and only time a Champion has ever been a Pokémon._

* * *

It was nearing dusk.

Imposter was sitting by the door, eyeing the card Grace had recently given it. Its very own Trainer Card, fitted with a full-body picture of Calem for reference. It did not foresee itself using it, but apparently Grace had spared no expense and gotten an official Pokémon League Bronze Card, nearly identical to Calem's, but with the name Imposter on the top and lacking any other recorded data.

A knock on the door jolted it out of its thoughts and for a moment it lost shape. It regained composure, however, when its trainer called from the other room: "Get that, Imposter?"

It put on its best face and swung open the door; two human girls were standing outside.

The shorter one spoke first. "Ah, hi! We were told there was a boy living here. This is great. Is your mom inside?"

Imposter did not speak, as it was missing adequate vocal chords. Fortunately a hand on its shoulder assured it she was there. "Hi, I'm Grace." She reached a hand out and the taller one shook it. "Did you need my son for something?"

"Oh, yeah," that one said. "I'm Serena, and I'm new to Kalos; this is Sh-"

"We're going to start an adventure with Pokémon!" 'Sh' interrupted. "We want to know if he'll come with!"

"What Shauna's trying to say," corrected Serena, "...Is that we are on an assignment for Professor Sycamore, and he said he knew someone around our age living right next door to where I just moved in. He wanted to offer you a chance to start off with us."

Grace was smiling, but Imposter was confused. Calem had started his adventure long ago. This Sycamore human was misinformed. But Grace was smiling.

"Well, I'm sure my _son_ here would love to join you," she said with a wink to the Ditto. "Wouldn't you, Imposter?"

The Pokémon's head was spinning. They were buying its illusion? Grace just called it her son? What would Calem say if it took their offer and adventured under his identity?

"Your name is Imposter?" Shauna repeated with a snorty laugh, snapping it out of its thoughts. "That's such a cool name! I wish my parents were as creative as you, ma'am."

Grace chuckled. The Pokémon did not think it was that creative; it was nicknamed after its special ability. It was the same as naming a Rhyhorn Reckless, or a Palpitoad Water Absorb.

"Anyway, why don't you take him out to get started?" Grace suggested. "Imposter's a bit shy and doesn't talk that much, but you'll get along fine."

"It's decided then!" Shauna declared, grabbing its wrist. "This is going to be great! Oh boy, I can't wait till I meet my very own partner!"

* * *

Before Imposter knew what was happening, the two humans had dragged it all the way to the next town over and situated it in a wooden chair at a wooden table outside some building. A couple of other trainers joined them, but Imposter was too confused to pay attention.

It was a good confusion though. Here it was, sitting amongst humans in human chairs by itself, no trainer involved, while humans talked to it about Pokémon.

To a creature who knew little more than how to Transform and do the odd favor for its trainer, this was a change of pace it could get used to.

A smaller human exclaimed something, waving his arms about stressfully. Shauna giggled, and Serena turned to it. "I think we should let him choose for himself. What do you think, Imposter?"

"Ditto!" It cried, embarrassed. Great, what were they talking about? What did it just agree to?

A heavyset male human helped it along. "Okay, so do it! You decide what we call you."

Imposter looked around nervously. It now understood why human eyes were so difficult to replicate; they were deep and powerful, and when they stared at you they stared through you.

"Ditto," it repeated, just to say something. Anything to get those eyes away.

"Okay, uh... Ditto," Serena acquiesced slowly. "That's what we'll call you if you're so - sure."

"Anyway, enough chitchat!" Shauna demanded, breaking the tension. "Let's get our Pokémon already!"

"Okay," replied the large boy, who withdrew a cylindrical container. "I vote Serena picks first because she's new to Kalos."

Everyone else nodded, so Imposter figured it might as well too. "Alright, what do we have in here?"

"I'll show you." With that, the boy in charge of carrying them opened the three Poké Balls.

Imposter peered over the table to see the creatures that arrived. It had only seen the yellow one before, courtesy of Calem.

This was the one Serena picked up first. "Yellow again, huh?" She looked genuinely disappointed.

And that was when they all heard the quiet chime of tiny, special bells. The brown one was slightly glittering.

Serena slowly put Fennekin down. The smallest boy's mouth was the size of Kanto.

"Serrreeenaaa!" He was drawling, pronouncing words meticulously. "That's - a - shiny - Chespinnn!"

Everyone looked at him with a mix of shock and confusion. "Dude," he whispered. "If you don't want it I'll take it. In a heartbeat."

"But-" she looked around. "You already have Pikachu, Trevor. This is Professor Sycamore's Pokémon."

Chespin looked at her and said something too quiet for Imposter to comprehend. Serena's triumphant grin grew larger. "But now, I think this one'll do fine for me. Was going for Fennekin, but hullo, Chespin. I think we can do well together."

Trevor hung his head. "I suppose that's how that works out, huh?"

"Hey, guys!" Shauna piped up. "Look at poor lil' Fennekin, she was so excited to travel with you!" She scooped up the Fire-Type in her arms. "That's okay, buddy. I'll be your trainer when big, bad Serena ditches you for some shiny."

She stuck her tongue out at Serena teasingly; curious, Imposter moved its own around. Was that what humans used that for..?

"That leaves, uh... Ditto with Froakie," the last boy observed. "You cool with that?"

Shauna put Fennekin back in her Poké Ball. Imposter eyed the small Water-Type, who regarded him with less care than a Ludicolo. Imposter nodded dumbly.

Was this even allowed? A Pokémon training another Pokémon? Either way, it did not matter; Imposter was mingling with the humans easier than it ever thought it could - and it was doing great.

"Okay, well, I have something else for you guys too," Trevor introduced, withdrawing a few Pokédexes. "This will help you understand Pokémon better and connect with them on a _much_ deeper level."

Imposter had the advantage over all of them there, and it knew it. Apparently this showed on its face.

"Hey," it heard Serena's Chespin snap. "You there! I've been paying attention to you..."

Imposter straightened. "What's the matter, Chespin?" Serena wondered, genuine concern in her voice.

Humans can not understand a Pokémon's words; that Imposter knew. It guessed that the Chespin knew too. "Why're you all red? Never seen a human turn that color."

"You should talk," Imposter replied calmly. "What color are normal Chespin?"

All the Pokémon's eyes grew wide, and Imposter was reminded of its problem with duplicating them - not only with humans but other Pokémon as well. It was then that it realized what it had done.

The Froakie used Bubble on Shauna, mimicking a spit take; Trevor politely asked if Imposter was feeling alright; Chespin's face lit up. "You! You're no human at all, are you! That's why you keep saying Ditto, it all makes sense now!"

Froakie joined in. "Wait, you're telling me he's a-"

"Yeah."

"-Trying to-?"

"Looks like it."

"-And I'm-?"

"Unfortunately for you," Chespin sighed, "...Yes."

Froakie burst out laughing. "Unfortunately? That's hilarious! Ahahah! My trainer is a Ditto!"

The humans looked back and forth between the Pokémon; Imposter tried to make a convincing smile, but it was getting even harder to hold form and the gesture just came out looking stressed.

"Um, let's get back on topic with the Pokédexes, shall we?" Trevor suggested.

Imposter spoke loud and clear this time: "Ditto!"

The three each took their own device from Trevor. _A Pokédex..._ Now Imposter had the Trainer Card, the 'Dex, the Ball of its first new friend, and the appearance of a formidable human trainer.

Calem would be proud, it decided.

Shortly thereafter, the children dispersed. Trevor and the other male shifted away awkwardly while Serena tried to get Chespin back to its Poké Ball.

"But you don't understand! It isn't human like you! It's in disguise as someone else and are you even listeni..."

"I guess Chepin's just excited to be going on an adventure," Serena assumed, looking at the capsule she had called him back into. "Well, I'll be seeing you guys. So much to do, so little time, you know?"

With that, Imposter watched her pull out a small notebook and jot something down before leaving. "Hey." Froakie garnered its attention. "Listen, if you really are a Pokémon like me..."

Imposter said nothing, but quirked an eyebrow.

"I want you to know something. Ready?" He waved the Ditto closer. Imposter leaned in.

Froakie took a deep breath as if about to whisper something, then aimed a Bubble at Imposter's face.

"Hahah! You're naïve too!" Froakie announced. "Boy, I like you! This is going to be fun times. But really though..." He wiped a tear away from laughing so hard. "You'd better be careful if you want to pull this off. And don't hurt yourself. That's all I'm going to say; this ought to be good."

Imposter was vaguely aware of Shauna watching their interaction and gushing over how well they got along. "Oh, and do you know how to use a Poké Ball?" Froakie asked.

Sure it did, but it did not get the chance to demonstrate because the Water-Type had already grabbed his own. "It's just like this, see... press this button and... wah-lah!" The Ball collapsed on the ground, limp, its two halves separated and making no efforts to retract into each other. "I'm a released little froggy!"

Imposter was confused and baffled simultaneously. "Hey, nothing personal, buddy," Froakie began trying to explain. "It's just that I'm not the kind of guy who'd like to travel in the Ball of something that can go into a Ball itself. But I'll be sticking around, don't you worry your purple little face."

This established, Imposter turned back to Shauna. The girl was running fingers along her own Fennekin's Poké Ball, and an idea struck.

"Hey, uh... Ditto! We're the only two left. You know what this means?"

Froakie jumped up and down. "Oh, I know what this means!"

"It means you're going to be my first-ever opponent in a Pokémon battle!"

Froakie looked around. "Wait. What?"

She sent out Fennekin; Imposter took a step back.

"I genuinely thought she meant she wanted to manufacture computer mouses with you!"

"Froakie."

"Yeah?"

"Help a Pokémon out?"

It took a second. "Oh, sure! I've always wanted to do this!"

He jumped into the battle, a bit too ambitiously. As soon as he got out there he launched his third Bubble. "Wait, Froakie - I tell you what to use, don't I?" complained Imposter.

Froakie guffawed, leaving himself susceptible to Fennekin's Scratch. "Hey, you distracted me! I'm a released froggy and I make my own decisions!"

Translation: _Froakie used Growl!_

Fennekin shot an Ember this time. "Did-did you just Fire-Type spit on me?" Froakie complained, wiping it off.

 _Froakie used Growl!_

"Because my trainer told me to, dummy," the Fennekin returned.

"Oh yeah, well-" Froakie could not think of a comeback, and decided instead to Water-Type spit on her.

 _Froakie used Bubble!  
_ _It's super effective!  
_ _The opposing Fennekin fainted!_

Imposter took a deep breath. "And that's how you do that," Froakie announced, hands proudly on his hips. "Not bad for a guy's first battle! Piece a' cake."

But Shauna was understandably frustrated. "Hey, I wasn't done watching my cute Lil' Fennekin yet!"

Imposter eyed Froakie. It joked, "See what you did?"

"Hah, you weren't either?" Shauna interpreted; all she could understand of its dialogue was its forever concurring species name, Ditto. "In that case, we should do it again sometime! Anyway, it's getting late; we should both go back home. See you around."

Shauna waved, turned tail, and left.

But she was right: Imposter should be getting home soon.

* * *

When Imposter opened the door to Grace's house, it was met with the familiar sounds of tens of Ditto clambering amongst each other like Kricketot on a hot Sinnoh midnight. Calem was not home tonight, unsurprisingly.

"Imposter," Grace greeted. "How'd it go?"

For it was unable to speak human, it just put on a big grin. Grace replicated the gesture.

"Glad to hear it," she said. "What hap-"

Only then did she notice Froakie at its feet. "What... is that?"

Imposter thought to do nothing but bend down, pick up the Pokémon ("Hey now!"), and hold it out in her face. Surprised, Grace stepped back, but not because she was aghast. She was impressed.

"Oh, he's adorable!" She gushed, "Look at that sweet little face."

Froakie was wrestling around in its hands. "Sweet? I'm a lean mean battling machine! I ain't sweet!"

"Wow, I'm so proud of you," she went on. "Now there are some Sitrus Berries on the table. I think Limber is already over there."

Limber!

It forgot all about its best friend for a while. It had to tell it all about what happened. It dropped Froakie and its bag and made a mad - but clumsy - dash to the dining room, falling and knocking over a lamp in the process.

(Upon hitting the ground, the lamp turned purple and morphed back to its normal Ditto self.)

Imposter and Limber were not really that close, but they had certain things in common. Neither was fond of talking, but both were good at listening, and both had times where they needed someone to listen.

Limber was the only one interested in Imposter's desire to mesh with the human world, and Imposter was the only one who cared about Limber's battling problem.

"You!" Limber cried between mouthfuls of berry. "I know that look. That's the look Calem had when he got his first Gym badge. What did you do that's so exciting?"

Imposter put Froakie on the table - "Hey, grub!" - climbed onto it itself, and Transformed back to Ditto.

Froakie was already helping himself, but the Ditto did not care. "I met people," Imposter explained. "They gave me a Pokédex like Calem's and - this Froakie to help me."

Now Limber acknowledged the rambunctious starter, who was trying to gobble three berries at once. "Help you do what?" It seemed unsure what such a Pokémon could help with.

"We had a battle against another trainer-"

"A battle."

Oh, yes. Now Imposter was remembering Limber's problem. "Yes. I didn't partake, but-"

"I think you should have. You would have done well. You can Transform so quickly."

"But-" Imposter was hesitant to reveal anything about it being a Pokémon in disguise, for fear that its journey would end when it hardly even began. But it knew what Limber was implying. The older Ditto had always talked big about wanting to be good at battling, but the potential of a Ditto was determined by only a few things - and one was Transforming speed. As the nickname implied, that was something Limber lacked. "Okay. Maybe I will battle someone myself some time. But for now I can't let them know I'm a Pokémon."

Limber looked at it quizzically. "It's trying to be a trainer," Froakie explained, licking his fingers. "Don't know how it's going to do that without any Pokémon to battle for 'em. I'd do it myself but I'm a released little froggy."

So Limber turned back to Imposter. "You need Pokémon to battle for you?"

It looked back at Froakie. "Apparently."

Limber shook itself in excitement. "You know I'd gladly join you. Grace never uses me for battling. For obvious reasons, I guess."

Imposter paused. "That's not true. You're a higher level than all of us. You can hold your own, I'm sure of it." Then, after a while: "You should battle with me when I go out again. Give you a chance to prove you really don't need that first turn."

"You think so? You think you can be a bona fide trainer with one Limber Ditto?"

"Nope," Froakie decided; they ignored him.

"I don't know. I can try. You'd be there."

A moment of uncertainty passed. Imposter took a berry of its own, and suddenly the basket holding them shapeshifted into another Ditto.

Froakie freaked out, flustered at the fact that he was taking berries from a Pokémon.

"Guys," the new one started. "I'd love to help you out. You need another?"

And so it went, until Imposter had amassed a group of five of its closest friends - four like it, then Limber.

Froakie sat back, looking genuinely amused that they were actually making plans to help it.

There was one more thing they had to do.

* * *

Grace left the kitchen, turning off the lights. "Okay, guys. It's time for bed. Back in your Poké Balls now."

Usually she kept very great care in knowing where everyone's was, but today there were six that she was definitely missing.

Imposter's. Limber's. Then four of her other hidden ability battlers. She looked up and saw the former standing in the living room.

It was Transformed into Calem again - surely it used the picture on its new Trainer Card to help the replication - and was wearing the bag she got it. Tied into its belt were the six missing balls.

"Oh, you," she said with a sigh of relief. "You really want to be a trainer, don't you?"

"Ditto," it responded happily.

"Well, you're going to need your own Pokémon then, won't you?"

It nodded, hesitantly, then fingered the balls on its belt. One of them was its own, but it was sure she would know what it meant.

It was right; "I see." She came closer. "Imposter, you're a smart Pokémon and I trust you. Are you sure you want to do this? Did they... agree to go with you?"

It nodded again. It could see she knew it was serious.

"Well, I guess I'll be supporting you a hundred percent then," she agreed. "After all, you just do what you want."

She gave its shoulder a squeeze, then turned tail to go to bed. On her way out she tripped over a small Froakie, who was already snoring loudly on the ground.

Imposter chuckled. Just what was it getting itself into?

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Imposter has six maxed-out IVs; good thing Grace isn't a competitive breeder. I know so-called 'perfect' characters are considered uninteresting, but... it hasn't stopped me before._

* * *

 **That was just a little trivia if anyone's interested in the process behind this story. Every chapter will probably have one.**

 **Hey thanks for reading! We've got a long story in store so if you like it, be sure to stick around. From this point on, new chapters will come out on Wednesdays and Saturdays and will usually be around this long. Some might be closer to two thousand words, some to five thousand - it fluctuates a little, but if it's a really long chapter I will probably warn you.** **See you on Wednesday with chapter two!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Imposter! Imposter, hey! Imposter, hey Imposter! Heh... hey... Imp... hey..!"

Luckily Imposter was aware of enough human to recognize a greeting, if not an excessive one. It turned around robotically as an exhausted and panting Shauna ran up behind it.

She shook her head like a Ponyta in order to clear it. Less flustered, she tried again. "Hey, Imposter."

"Ditto," it replied. She did not seem to mind.

"So what brings you to Santalune Forest?"

Imposter looked around, confused. How did it end up here? It had just started walking, to get a head start on its new life as a human. It battled some young trainers with relative success; its friends were all already skilled battlers that new how to take advantage of whatever form they were given. Therefore, today was going well.

But now it appeared it was lost, and its only aide was this human youth it vaguely remembered from yesterday's rendezvous. "What's wrong? Can't find your way?"

Imposter shook its head. "That's okay. Let's go together," Shauna offered. "This'll be so exciting!"

It put its - hands - in its - pockets. It still did not understand clothing. Apparently it was not made of flesh, yet it was attached to humans anyway. What purpose it served to them, other than appearance modification, Imposter was still unsure, but it liked it anyway. Perhaps there even was no purpose past that. From time to time it liked to think that - humans with their clothing constantly changing were similar to Ditto and their various forms.

Regardless of this, Imposter was content letting Shauna lead the way.

"C'mon, we all gathered over here. We're waiting for you."

She led it towards a clearing in the trees, where her friends from yesterday were gathered. She squinted, and it realized what they were really doing:

"Chespin, Razor Leaf!"

The Pokémon sliced through his opponent, a nervous-looking Corphish. Instantly, the Water-Type collapsed.

"Hahah, great job." Serena called her partner back into its Ball. "Good match, Tierno."

"How was that a good match?" The large boy slumped over in defeat. "It was over in twenty seconds."

Serena opened her mouth as if about to reply, when she was interrupted by Shauna.

"Hey guys! I found uh... Ditto."

Everyone turned, and Imposter suddenly found itself struggling to maintain form. They were relentless with their 'hi's and 'how are you?'s, and all it could say in return was "Ditto."

"Well, everybody's here. We should get going," suggested Trevor. "So much we have to do, you know."

"Yeah," Serena agreed. "I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to take on the Pokémon League challenge. There's a Gym right in the next town over."

No one responded. "Y-You guys all know what that is, right?"

"Um..." Shauna drawled out.

Trevor held up his Pokédex. "Does it have anything to do with - this?"

"Wow, none of you know, huh?" Serena concluded. Imposter knew it had heard the words before - it was all over the news, and sometimes Calem would talk about it. "Basically it's a measure of how good you are as a trainer," continued Serena. "And at the top is the Champion. That's what I'm going to be."

Her eyes closed as she said this, a smile growing over her lips. "Or at least, that's what I'm aiming for, and it will be taking a while. So we should get moving."

Imposter agreed. Because it was unable to speak, it made this point by walking straight through the group and out of Santalune Forest.

Route Three was unsurprisingly pleasant for this time of day. Imposter kept walking in the sun's warmth, momentarily forgetting that there were even people behind it. "Wait! Hey! Where are you going?"

As a Pokémon, Imposter's people skills were understandably shaky.

 _"Imposter!"_

Shauna grabbed it by the shoulder, extremely startling it. It would have Transformed back right then and there if her hand did not remind it that there were humans around. It turned around rapidly to save face, but it was too uncoordinated - its legs turned one way and its head the other, resulting in it completely falling over looking up at Shauna.

It gulped, pigments of red appearing on its cheeks. "You - hah! You're too funny. That was really rude, you know, walking away when we're in the middle of a conversation!"

Heart racing, it looked behind her for the others. Tierno was guffawing at its clumsiness, while Serena and Trevor looked confused at the situation. Shauna moved again, transferring its attention to her hand, extended in helping. "Here, get up. We've got places to go, anyway."

Get up. Oh. Okay; it did as she ordered, without touching her. Why was her hand still out like that? It poked her wrist, and she recoiled. "What? What's with-"

It saw her looking it up and down. "...Okay. Let's-Let's go, guys."

Imposter saw them all walk ahead of it, embarrassed about its faux pas. Naturally, Froakie was in stitches at it.

"Oh boy, you sure are bad at this, eh? Have you even practiced in that body at all?"

Of course it did. Imposter spent almost as much time like that as it did in its natural form, but being confined to Grace's house kept it from getting much practical experience. A glance shut Froakie up, and it followed the humans. It would continue this adventure.

* * *

"Uh... Ditto. Look."

The Pokémon's attention landed where Serena's finger pointed. The building in front of them was not notably large, but its furnishings implied that it was largely notable. "That's a Pokémon Gym."

Imposter's heart skipped a beat. This was one of the humans' Gyms. There was something about that word, and the luxury with which Serena pronounced it, that convinced the Ditto that it needed to go in.

And, true to nature, go in Imposter did.

"Hey, me first! Wait up, mister."

It was hardly aware of Serena anymore. All it knew was that this place was special. The room was simple enough - two statues at the entrance, one human standing amongst them, and a square-shaped hole in the floor in the center. It hardly took into account the pictures on the walls, which Serena claimed were photographs taken by the Gym Leader.

It did not know nor care what a photograph was, only that it needed to proceed.

While it was vaguely aware of the man trying to have a conversation with it and Serena, it hobbled over to the hole in the ground and stepped down.

"Imp- oh _no_!"

Serena screeched as it fell. Even Froakie was silenced for a moment. Its arms flailed, and after a second, Imposter felt something sticky underneath it. Hardly phased, it stood up and looked around.

And immediately wanted to leave.

There were a lot of Bug-Types in the towns and routes around its hometown of Vaniville City, and often when Grace took her Ditto out in public she would allow them to roam for a bit and Transform into whatever they wanted. So once Imposter Transformed into a Scatterbug.

A wrong choice when there were Ariados in the area. Long story short, Imposter was no longer comfortable in the middle of any spiderwebs, artificial or not.

The web shook again when Serena landed beside it, followed by Froakie, on top of it. "Hey! Are you alright? You know they have that rope to slide down. You could have hurt yourself!"

"Ditto."

"Don't you 'Ditto' me. We're-"

Serena stopped talking. "That's right. We're in the first Gym in our adventure in Kalos."

She calmly turned to face Imposter, then inhaled slowly and said quickly:

"Last one without the Bug Badge is a rotten Exeggcute!"

With that, she took off, hunger in her eyes. Imposter looked down. Was there really nothing beneath it but this webbing? It gulped. May as well continue.

Most of its battles with the Gym trainers went as expected; it won them eventually, but not without trouble. Learning what certain moves did took longer than Imposter would have liked. Yet it was determined, and it would succeed.

It turned to the back of the Gym when shouting could be heard. Serena was standing before a large pink Pokémon it had never seen before, and was battling against him like it had never seen her do. Suddenly its attention was ripped away, taken by the next Gym trainer, itching for a battle.

It reached into its bag.

* * *

By the time it was ready to battle Viola, Imposter's team was begging it for a round of restores. The last battle between them and Lass Charlotte's Kakuna had taken much longer than anticipated, since the fight had became more of a defense-maxed-on-both-sides Struggle-fest, as Kakuna knew only Harden. That, combined with the following Combee's frequent supereffective Gusts, had quickly depleted Imposter's store of potions and berries.

But Imposter could not be expected to prepare properly for something it did not understand, so it took the remaining two Ditto - Limber included - and figured it may as well challenge the Leader.

Viola had an entire speech recited, but it all flew in one of Imposter's copied human ears and out the other. One word - fantastic - it had picked up on, but only because she had used it so often. It was too focused on the prospect of battle to comprehend anything else.

Viola sent out Surskit, and Imposter, Ditto. Ditto used Water Sport - to help guard against all of her Fire-Type moves, of course - after the opponent Quick Attacked.

The battle never did turn around for Imposter, and it lost quickly. Finally it bolted back to Santalune's Pokémon Center to give its team a much-needed respite.

* * *

"All I'm saying is... you have to understand our side of the situation too. When you're not the one battling, it might be easy to forget that fighting is - tiring."

Imposter blinked. Limber had wanted to have this conversation before rebattling the Gym, so Imposter hid its bag nearby and the two Ditto had Transformed into a couple surrounding Rattata, to avoid drawing attention.

"Doesn't Grace battle with you all the time?"

Imposter's tail flicked back and forth. Rarely had any of them been used for battles, especially recently. "No," was Imposter's answer.

"So - well-" Limber stuttered, picking its whiskers. "Regardless, when half of us are asking you for a break and the other half aren't because they're already unconscious, it's a good indicator that maybe visiting a center before such an important battle is a good idea."

"Okay."

"And I want to give as much as I can too. It isn't much, but I could do a lot better when I'm not exhausted."

"Okay."

"And wow, stop okaying me. Just-" it inhaled. "I'm excited about all this, truly, but - we all have a long way to go - from here. Unh."

Imposter watched as Limber bit down on some air, trying to hold form, but that looked harder than it was for Imposter. Limber soon gave up, released a breath, and turned back into Ditto. It climbed back into its Poké Ball after one last reassuring smile, leaving Imposter alone to gather its bag, become Calem again, and make its way back to the Gym.

It remembered the rope down this time.

* * *

"Hey," Viola observed, eyeing Imposter's Trainer Card. "You're back."

"Ditto," it responded.

"Me? I didn't go anywhere. But you... I can see it in your eyes. It's fantastic that you want to try it again. I admire your fantastic persistence, but I already gave out one Bug Badge today, and I don't plan on losing again!"

"Ditto."

"You don't either? Fantastic!"

 _You are challenged by Leader Viola!_

Viola sent out Surskit again. Imposter threw out a Ditto.

Imposter shared a look with this Pokémon. It would do it right this time.

"Ditto, use Quick Attack."

It did.

"Surskit, Bubble."

Imposter blinked. Okay. "Bubble."

"Quick Attack."

"Quick Attack!"

"Water Sport!"

Imposter all but burst out laughing. "Bubble!"

Surskit fainted. Imposter grinned.

"Fantastic!" Viola praised. "Now onto my ace. Go, Vivillon!"

So this was the pink Pokémon that Imposter saw Serena battling so vehemently. It could not tell if Ditto was nervous, but it understood now, for the first time, that there was a difficult battle in front of it.

Imposter felt a crunching sound in its mouth. Apparently it had been chewing its tongue too hard. It cringed. "Quick Attack, Ditto."

Vivillon shrugged it off. "Infestation."

A new move that Imposter failed to recognize. It could only watch Ditto's face as Vivillon swooped in for the move.

 _Ditto fainted!_

"Go, Ditto!"

Viola's face contorted into a mixture of confusion and amusement. "More Ditto? You sure seem to have a favorite species. That's fantastic! Good on you for using the ones you like over the ones that will get the job done. Fantastic."

It was now Vivillon on Vivillon. New move? Imposter was happy to try it out.

"Ditto, Infestation."

The opposing Vivillon simply blinked. Imposter's jaw dropped when it saw how little the attack did. "You have a lot to learn, challenger," Viola reminded it.

Vivillon Tackled. Imposter liked how much better that was. Ditto Tackled. Vivillon Hardened. Ditto Tackled.

It seemed to Imposter that no matter what it was Ditto did, Vivillon would only brush off the attack. But Ditto apparently read the situation better. "Imposter, see? He looks exhausted. We almost won."

Vivillon Tackled. Ditto Tackled. Vivillon Tackled again. Ditto fainted.

"Ditto..." It called its Pokémon back. "Thanks. It's almost over.

"Let's finish him, Ditto."

 _Ditto used Tackle!  
_ _Vivillon fainted!  
_ _You defeated Leader Viola!_

Imposter stopped to catch its breath, withdrawing its friend's Ball. "Good work, Ditto."

"Did I do well?"

"You did fantastic."

It put Ditto away and looked up to see the strange look on Viola's face. That was right. Humans normally cannot talk to Pokémon. Its face flushed as though it had been caught, with Viola continuing on as usual in spite of what had transpired.

"Well, you beat me," she conceded with a giggle. "Have this Bug Badge, for all your fantastic effort!"

Imposter cautiously accepted the metal pin, as if unbelieving of its very existence. It slowly pinned the badge onto its very own Trainer Card. Now it was really getting places.

Now, perhaps, there was a chance for it to make something of itself as a human.

But only time would tell.

 _~End of Part One~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _During the playthrough that inspired this story, I had Shauna and the gang call Imposter, quote, 'uh... Ditto'. They were pretty confused._

* * *

 **Heeey**

 **Sorry for the potentially somewhat-boring chapter, but the first Gym's pretty important. Good chance to get used to how battles are going to work in this, as well as Imposter's habits as a trainer. Anyway, you've probably noticed, but this story is separated into parts. Ten, specifically, their lengths ranging from two to five chapters each. They're more or less organized according to Gym - that is, a part will end after finishing each one. Generally speaking. There will be exceptions.**

 **Thanks for sticking around! Hope to see you Saturday.**


	3. Chapter 3

Imposter beamed with pride as it sauntered through Route Four. Battling trainers, chatting up wild monsters, being laughed at by Froakie, sometimes losing, mainly winning - but regardless, Imposter did not care. It was a human trainer, and that was special.

It soon approached a rather different-looking building. There was no door, just two open walls, and one could easily see through it to the urbia on the other side.

Seeing this lack of security, Imposter figured it would be no crime to continue through it.

Froakie looked backwards. "Hey, 'Pasta."

"Am I a noodle?"

The Water-Type giggled. "Not - currently," he admitted. "But, uh... Don't you think you've been at this for a while? Like it's time to go back home to your trainer in Vaniville?"

Imposter stopped walking and sent a sharp look to Froakie, who recoiled slightly. "I am my own trainer now," it insisted. "Got my own Ball right here in my bag. I'm not going to stop when I'm on such a roll."

And it continued walking without allowing Froakie to protest. "W-Wait-" he hopped along. "When I signed up for this, I never thought you'd make it all the way to-"

The two finished his sentence at the same time, as they stepped out of the gate - Imposter with a respectful awe and Froakie in an almost fearful whisper: "Lumiose City."

Shauna's voice grabbed their attention. "Look, I found him! He was just really behind, that's all."

Curious, Imposter approached the girl, and Froakie had no choice but to come along. Serena eyed it. "You get your badge yet?"

It nodded in confirmation, and Serena grabbed its wrist. "Come on. The professor's been waiting to see you."

It and Serena followed her into one of Lumiose's many tall buildings and up its single elevator. At what Imposter figured was the top, Trevor and Tierno were there to greet them.

The group, four humans and two Pokémon, entered the office. The first thing Imposter noticed was the amount of pictures adorning the walls. Was this professor friends with Viola, or did all humans specialize in photographing Pokémon?

"Children, you are here!" The man announced, "Thank you for coming all this way. I'm Professor Augustine Sycamore... but of course, you could all just call me Professor Sycamore. Now, you-!" He pointed out Serena.

"Me?"

"You. You just moved here, right?"

Serena nodded. "From Hoenn."

His eyes widened. "That far away? Très bien! You must need a proper welcome to Kalos, then!"

She flushed. "I-I don't know about that. It's already been a few wee-"

"I insist." The professor reached into the pocket on his lab coat, and Imposter was the only one to notice the gleam of a Poké Ball in his hand. "Forgive me if it's a bit sudden, but I want to see how far along you are as a trainer."

They all could notice Serena's smile when he asked, "Would you please do me for a battle?"

Withdrawing her own Chespin's Ball, she laughed: "Funny. Are all Kalosians that formal?"

Sycamore smirked, motioning to her style of dress. "Are all Hoennites that fabulous?"

And with that, the battle started. "Say, that's a fine Chespin you got there," Sycamore observed. "You are aware that it is..?"

"Shiny?" Serena guessed. "You don't even want to know how many soft resets..."

Speaking of starters... where was Froakie?

Imposter looked around for him, and saw him standing around the corner. He was motioning with his hand to bring it over.

The Ditto bent down behind the wall where nobody could see it. "What's wrong?"

Froakie played with his hands. "Listen, you aren't telling this to anybody, y'hear?"

Imposter shook its head.

"I don't like this place."

He let that sit in the air for a moment. "What, you ain't going to ask why?"

"Okay; why?"

"I ain't telling ya."

Imposter straightened up, crossing its arms.

"Well, fine. Ya see, that man battling your friend?"

The professor? "He was my first trainer. Then you. Then squat, because I'm released now. Follow? Problem is I wasn't supposed to leave you. Me an' Fennekin an' Chespin were all supposed to stay 'BFF's fer-ev's' with our new trainers, and if he finds out what happened, it's back in a Ball for me to be given away to some other human. Froakie aren't easy to come by in the wild, and that man is resourceful as - as - something with a lot of resources."

Imposter looked up in realization as well: "And he also probably doesn't know that, uh - I'm not really a - you know."

Froakie blinked. "Whatever makes you say that?"

"Well, he probably thinks I'm Calem. Even though _he_ already started his adventure."

"I was being facetious. You not being a human is so obvious, I'm shocked no one's noticed it yet."

"I noticed it!" Serena's Chespin was calling from his battle. So he was eavesdropping!

"Hey, this isn't your conversation!"

Froakie quickly realized his error. "Aw, shoot, there's no way they didn't hear me. Dude! We need to get outta here. We're toast."

"Maybe not?"

"What does that mean?"

"...Uh... Ditto?"

The Pokémon turned around to see Shauna peering around the corner at them. "Oh, you two. Having fun with Amie while Serena's having such an important battle? Come on in. It's getting pretty heated."

Imposter and Froakie shared a look, knowing they had no choice. They followed her inside.

It was Chespin against Charmander. Shauna was right; the combatants were all over the place. Chespin had at some point climbed on top of Sycamore's desk, while Charmander - despite having the type advantage - was clinging ironically onto Serena's leg.

She tried to shake it off. "Chespin - use - let go! - Vine Whip!"

Before attacking, Chespin locked eyes with Imposter. "You got it! Hyah!"

The Ditto, paying less attention than it appeared, hardly had time to duck when the attack came flying towards it. It shouted in surprise, grabbing at its nose. "Ow."

"Chespin," scolded Serena. "How'd you miss with such an accurate move? Be more careful not to hit anybody else, okay?"

Chespin shrugged, his smug expression readable only to Imposter. Sycamore cut the tension, however, by ordering his Charmander to move.

"Ember."

He spat an Ember out from across the room. Chespin was almost down. Serena had one chance. "Now... Vine Whip for real this time!"

The Grass-Type, apparently done with Imposter, launched himself off of his opponent's desk and slammed the move into Charmander with a special boost of power from Overgrow. The opponent finally let go of Serena's leg and fainted.

The trainer let out a breath. "Ah. Great job, Chespin. Come on back."

She sprayed a Potion on him, and he returned. "Good fight, Sycamore."

Her opponent stepped back. "Hey, that's 'Professor' to you," he joked, but he was smiling modestly. "Say, you're quite something. Do you-" he took out the Balls of the three Pokémon he had just battled with. "Would you want to take one of these? It seems at least one of them has taken a bit of a liking to you."

Serena laughed, as they all knew it was true. "Do you really mean it?"

"Of course!"

"Okay... who should I pick, then..?"

Charmander's Poké Ball was wiggling in his trainer's hand.

"Well... guess it'll have to be... Bulba-! Just kidding. You can come on out, Charmander."

The small Fire-Type did. Sycamore grinned and replaced the other two. "Now, Serena. Look at what Charmander's holding, would you?"

She bent down, and the kids all gathered around to see. The rock in its hand almost glowed black and blue.

"That there's a Mega Stone," Sycamore explained. "We don't know much about them, but that they allow certain species of Pokémon to become even more powerful. The reason I called you all here is because I want you to find out more about this strange phenomenon. It's called Mega Evolution."

Trevor recoiled. "Wait, what about the Pokédex? I thought that was what you wanted us to do?"

Sycamore put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "If that's what you want to make of your adventure, please do it," he insisted. "That's why I have four of you here to help me out."

Four? Imposter soon realized it was not included in Sycamore's count. No one appeared to have noticed, except for Shauna, who had looked backwards to it in confusion.

"Now, go on, children! Have an adventure, meet lots of Pokémon, find out what it is you want to do, and then do it! Just remember to keep old Sycamore in your thoughts, okay?"

The human children were smiling in anticipation, but Imposter and Froakie were left looking suspiciously at each other.

"Thanks for the Pokémon," Serena called behind her shoulder as she left the lab with Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno.

"Thanks for the battle," Sycamore returned.

Content with this goodbye, Imposter turned to leave with its friends. "Wait there, young man," Sycamore warned, turning it back. Imposter's eyes were sharp in alarm. Froakie looked upwards to his former trainer, trepidation written on his face.

Sycamore looked Imposter up and down. "Le fantastique... I cannot believe it. You are so - similar. It is truly marvelous, how have I not seen it before?"

Imposter blinked. It was caught. It knew it. That was the end. It was just about ready to Transform back in defeat when Sycamore continued: "And to think Calem never even told me he had a twin brother."

Oh. So there was a misunderstanding. "Don't you worry. Your mother wrote me before, telling me all about how you'd always wanted to go on an adventure, but were too shy to start at the same time as Calem."

Imposter opened its mouth to object, but Sycamore raised a finger and interrupted. "She told me about the... incident with the Fletchinder, too. I do feel very sorry for you. It sounded traumatizing. If it were me, I wouldn't even leave my apartment, much less speak!"

Incident? Fletchinder? Trauma? Its... mother? Had Grace really made up an entire story about why her second "son" was unable to speak?

Its heart went out to her now as it realized how much she cared for its one crazy dream. As it sat there pensively reflecting on this, Sycamore stood up straight.

"So in acknowledgement of that, I would like you to consider that Froakie and that Pokédex a couple of gifts. I'm not asking you to do anything special for me; completing the Pokédex, or researching Mega Evolution. It would please me enough just to see someone as - conflicted - as you are out and enjoying yourself. Okay? So use what I've given you as much as you'd like, but no pressure to get back to me on any of it. Of course, I'll still be checking that 'Dex of yours, just in case, but that Trevor fella is already on it. Don't worry about letting anyone down."

All Imposter could do is stand in silence. This could not actually be happening - could it? It was not simply too good to be true?

"Now, downstairs, my boy. Your friends are waiting."

* * *

"So do you think I'm off the hook, then?"

Imposter looked up at Froakie. Now that it finally had a minute of privacy in the elevator, it was entirely ready to take a break from being Transformed so long. It had just reverted back into its normal purple Ditto form.

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean, is it okay for them to know - that I'm released? If you're allowed to be mute _and_ do whatever you want with me and the Pokédex, are you allowed to just hang onto a released little froggy like moi?"

"I-I don't know. Anyway, it's probably just easier to let them think I'm still your trainer, as long as you're going to be travelling with me. After that, it's whatever you want, I guess."

Imposter still did not know Froakie that well, and on top of the responsibility of acting as a human trainer, there was no way it could commit to covering for Froakie whenever he needed it to. They would have to figure that out later.

The Ditto reached around in its bag, and pulled out a big, plump Sitrus Berry. Froakie gawked, just as it expected. "Where'dya get that?"

"Found it."

"On the ground?"

"No, out of your ear."

Froakie's hands went to his hips. "Alright, wise guy. Am I getting any?"

"I dunno. They're always saying never to feed the wild Pokémon, so..."

He gasped. "Aw, come on..!"

"Give me a break, okay?" It tried to be polite through a mouthful of berry. "I can only stay Transformed for so long, and who knows when I'll have the chance to relax again? Humans don't eat berries they find on the ground, either. If you really want one..."

It tossed Froakie an Oran, and he did not hesitate to start digging in - not even to thank the one that gave it to him.

Imposter rolled its eyes. _Wild_ Pokémon.

The elevator slowed to a stop, and Imposter stuffed down the rest of its meal. "Shoot. Gotta do this quickly."

Froakie saw this and panicked. His hand darted into its bag, withdrawing Imposter's reference. "Here! Trainer Card! Do it now."

Oh, okay, then. By the time the elevator dinged open, Imposter was Transformed enough that the rest of the process looked just like it was shifting its weight.

When it reached the lobby, its human companions had already left the building, leaving enough time for Imposter to look down to Froakie. "Did you just help me?"

Froakie stammered. "Uh - well, I can't have people seeing a Froakie without a trainer. In Sycamore's building? They'd eat me up."

Imposter 'hm'-ed. It stepped out of the elevator to find itself confronted by yet another human.

"Calem! Wow, long time no see. How are you today?"

What? Imposter saw Froakie eyeing it, as if waiting to see how it would handle the situation. Sweat appeared on its face, a new and, blunty, uncomfortable sensation.

"Is something wrong? Normally you're a lot more - talkative."

Imposter blinked, then nodded. It was sure Calem usually was much more talkative than this.

"-Oh." The white-clad person looked around the room, then gestured outside. "Do you want to talk about it? Somewhere else, perhaps?"

It shook its head vigorously. It wanted this confrontation to end.

"Anyway, there's someone I want you to meet. Come with me to the café."

Imposter's face contorted into confusion. The café. There were fifty cafés in this city.

"Don't be silly, boy. You know which one - the one I always go to."

Imposter nodded slowly, only to feel like it was participating in the conversation.

"I'll see you there."

Imposter and Froakie shared a look as the human walked away. Imposter did not entirely know, yet, what it wanted as a human, but it did know interfering in Calem's life was not a part of the plan.

* * *

"Uh... Ditto, finally. There you are," Serena called. "Here he is. Let's go in. There's this guy in here who says he knows something about Mega Evolution."

Imposter nodded; might as well. Inside two adult humans were sitting at a table across from each other: one, a tall male with equally tall red hair, and the other, the person it met in Sycamore's lab earlier.

"And you wouldn't believe whom I saw again today..." the latter was saying. "Who but that Calem. Ugh, I asked him to come here to meet you, but it seems he stood me up again."

"Um, hullo," Serena interrupted. "I found my friend. What is it you wanted to tell us about-"

"You! You know that boy? Calem, you're late as usual. I've been wanting to introduce you to my acquaintance here."

Shauna coughed. "Um, with all due respect, miss, his name isn't Caleb. His name is Imposter."

"Y-Yeah, or at least that's what he goes by," Serena agreed. "He lives right next to me. You're probably thinking of someone else."

The woman (apparently she was female, according to Shauna's use of 'miss') inspected Imposter. "Oh. Well, gee, I-I'm sorry. You look just like someone I've seen, from time to time. Do you have a brother?"

It nodded in spite of itself. That would be its story, then. "In that case, sorry for the confusion. Anyway, you five wanted to know about Mega Evolution, right?"

'Yes'-es and 'sure thing'-s and 'uh-huh'-s and even a 'Ditto' met her offer. "Well, that isn't exactly my forte."

She looked at the man across from her. "That's where I come in, then," he decided, standing up. "I am Lysandre. Pleasure to meet all of you."

He shook each of their hands, one by one, moving down the line from Tierno to Imposter. He held onto the last for longer than Imposter would have liked; it did not know whether or not anyone else noticed, but upon touching its hand, Lysandre's face seemed to harden. The shake was firm, and by the time he pulled away, Imposter's hand was hurting.

"It is true that I am capable of Mega-Evolving my Pokémon," he revealed. "If any of you would like to battle me, I would be glad to demonstrate."

All five recoiled. Battle an adult? Sycamore was one thing - he was friendly and unintimidating. But this man was the size of two Imposters - nay, two Calems - and was going to use the special new trick they just learned about today! Unsurprisingly, no one stepped up.

"Good," he decided, after a second. "It pleases me to know none of you are foolish enough to battle in such a fine place. It would destroy the furnishings, after all." He motioned to the woman sitting down at the table. "It is her favorite café in the whole city, and believe me, she has fine taste."

She smiled pensively. "While you are correct, I'm convinced that they're simply looking out for their Pokémon. Let's not battle for now. If you want to learn about Mega Evolution, you should head for Shalour City."

Then she stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it seems I have some unfinished business to attend to. I am a trainer as well, you know, and just as busy as the next."

She stood and left. Imposter watched Lysandre's eyes, transfixed on the young woman. Suddenly those eyes were on Imposter.

"You. I can tell you know a thing or two about the beauty in this world... We will battle someday. I will be sure of it."

With that, Lysandre strided off.

A beat passed. "That was weird," Shauna observed. A round of nods came from the others.

* * *

"So, who even was that person?"

"Corn chip haircut or old lady haircut?"

"Uh, th-the second one."

Froakie furrowed his brow. "Dun' really know. She would hang out with Sycamore all the time, but never when I was around. He'd talk real nice about her, all staring-wistfully-at-the-horizon-like. But I never paid attention to what he said."

Imposter shook its head. "Strange that no one thought to introduce me, though. Let's just keep going."

Froakie shrugged. "Quicker we leave Lumiose, the better."

The two stepped through the gate to Route Five, where once again, the four humans were awaiting them; this time, however, there was another female speaking with them. Two humanoid Pokémon accompanied her.

Imposter walked up silently, and none of them seemed to notice. "That's right, I am. Korrina, by the way. If you want to challenge me, Shalour isn't all that far away. It's a little up past Cyllage City... but you'll need some stronger Pokémon if you plan on winning."

She gave a laugh. "Imposter." Shauna poked it. "This is the Gym Leader of Shalour City. Where we need to go. Mega Evolution and all that?"

Imposter nodded in recognition. It saw Serena chuckling at the jab, but the Leader's face hardened. "You think I'm joking? We can battle right now, if you want a taste."

"Oh... I think I'll pass," Serena decided. She motioned to the rest of the group. "Wouldn't be fair to the rest of these guys, you know?"

Korrina did not laugh. "Alright, well, I best be on my way. These Lucario won't sit still for more'n five minutes, and myself no more than four! Good luck in your challenge."

With that, she skated away, her two Pokémon following.

"Well," Serena began, "Now we know how to get there. We just have to keep trekking."

The others agreed, and were on their way.

It was the first time Imposter had truly travelled alongside them, rather than always falling behind, and it was surprisingly pleasant. It got to hear Serena's big dreams of her Gym challenge, and Trevor's raving about the Pokédex ("Can you believe I saw a wild _Masquerain?_ "). Shauna walked close to the Ditto the whole time. Tierno began beatboxing at some point, and Serena halfheartedly added some lyrics; before long the whole group was engaged in a hearty travel song.

"...And, _Imposter!_ "

One could almost hear the record scratching. Imposter was so taken aback by the sudden cue that it had stopped walking, its legs almost literally turning into mush. It straightened them out again, of course, but that could not stop the problem of being unable to vocalize.

"Um, it's - your turn. You can go," Shauna offered. Imposter blinked, clutching the strap on its bag. Everyone was looking at it again. Tierno dropped the beat just to stare, to see what would happen.

They all just stood there for a few seconds. Serena ended up saving it by deciding, "Hey, it's okay if you don't want to join. Improvising isn't for everyone."

"Yeah," Trevor was the first to agree.

Shauna pouted, as she was the one that cued it. "Aw, I wanted to see what he would come up with. He hardly ever says anything, don't you want to make him feel included?"

Imposter shrugged. It was fine the way it was, and its face showed it.

"...I'm sure if he could have said anything, he would have," Serena guessed. "Let's just - let's get to Camphrier Town."

"Yeah, I agree."

Imposter nodded. "Ditto."

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Imposter's alleged 'trauma' involves Fletchinder because that evolutionary line is one of my least favorite in the game. For so many reasons._

* * *

 **Ah, I love the nickname 'Pasta. X3**

 **Anyway, take note of Serena's being from Hoenn, as it's the start of another altered-character-AU thing. This isn't animé Serena. Of course, I won't tell you every time when there's an important hint - what's the fun in that? - but this'd be a good way to get you aware of what to look for. Happy searching!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, last chapter, Imposter and co. just made it to Camphrier Town. And if you've played X/Y, you probably know what is coming next. That being said, as this is the Parfum Palace chapter, I want to take a moment and put out a warning - this is the shippiest chapter in the whole story. And yes, in a weird way. You'll know what I mean when you get there, but keep in mind that the ship stuff was written with the intent for it to be awkward and funny, not at all romantic or serious. Considering the circumstances, that would be weird. Anyway, this story is K-plus and not K for a few different reasons, but this chapter is a notable one.**

* * *

"...Oh, dear."

Deep into Camphrier Town, Imposter's group saw the commotion leading off to Route Seven. A huge Pokémon was sleeping on the bridge, and anyone who knew anything about Snorlax understood there was only one way to wake it.

"What do we do?"

"How will we get across?"

The townspeople were buzzing with concern. The bridge creaked when the giant Pokémon inhaled. Serena's face hardened. "Okay, interesting question," she began. "Do any of you know how to play a Poké Flute?"

Members of the group all looked to each other.

"Say, I do," a stranger declared, approaching them. "If it's not a problem, may I ask why?"

She nodded. "Snorlax always wake up to its music. Do you have one? If we could wake it up, I could catch it and have it out of everyone's way."

The man looked regretful. "It's a kind offer you pose, young miss, but I gave my only flute away. To the owner of Parfum Palace down Route Six."

"Then let's go," Serena decided.

"W-Wait-" the man protested, but she was already on her way, the rest of the group shortly following.

Serena, of course, was caught up by trainers asking to battle on the way there. Trevor gawked at the sights on palace grounds, snapping pictures of the surrounding Pokémon, and Tierno was effectively Serena's backup. Imposter, however, was more impatient; it kept moving, ignoring battle requests and sauntering to the palace gates largely without being noticed.

That is, largely.

"Hey, uh... Ditto, wait up," Shauna insisted. "Where are you going?"

Imposter stopped and pointed ahead at the building in front of them. "My word," she whispered. "It's so huge and pretty. You think the flute's in there?"

Where else would it be? Imposter nodded. It continued forwards, with Shauna in tow.

A guard at the gate stopped them. "Welcome to Parfum Palace," he recited, a heavy Kalosian accent making his words hardly recognizable. "Admission one thousand prize money."

Shauna gasped. "We need to pay to get in? Unbelievable!" But she payed the man anyway. "Come on, let's find this thing."

Imposter followed, but the guard cut it off again. "That goes for you, too, young man."

What goes? Prize money. Right. It reached into its pocket and withdrew some change, which the guard took.

"Let's see... the cost is one thousand, not one hundred. I'm afraid I can't let you in unless I'm paid."

Shauna gawked. "Do you not have money?" She shook her head. "You've gotta be kidding me."

She paid the rest for it, and grabbed the Pokémon by the hand. "We're going."

The palace itself was as gorgeous as Shauna said, with golden statues of Milotic meeting them at the door. One man stood in the front room, clearly panicking.

"Where is he... where... gotta find him... My Furfrou! Where could you be!?"

Shauna poked the man on the shoulder, cautiously. "Um, sorry, but do you know where we can find the owner of this place?"

The man wiped away a tear. "That would be me," he admitted pathetically. "Now, I see you're a couple of trainers. Figure you have a way with Pokémon, huh? Would you do me a huge favor?"

Shauna blinked. "Sorry. That came outta nowhere. But I would be happy to help you out with anything in return," he offered.

"Th-That would be great," Shauna decided with a smile. "What do you-"

"My Furfrou is gone! The palace garden, it is too big for one man to search alone. He could be anywhere. Help a guy out?"

Imposter nodded. It would be no problem, it figured, being a Pokémon itself.

After splitting up with Shauna, it poked around the castle for a while. Eventually Froakie pointed out the entrance to the garden, and the two stepped outside.

The sun was bright today, but fading fast as the spring evening approached. It was still hot, though, and the air had that feeling of freshness that Imposter hardly got cramped in Grace's house all that time. Its ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice: Shauna's.

"Now get over here, you little bugger... don't you run away, now, y'hear? Hey - get back! Ugh! Uh... Ditto, help a girl out."

The poor human was chasing the Normal-Type around like a Meowth in pursuit of a Pichu. The Ditto stepped through the hedges. "I'm gonna corner 'im. You just - stand right there. Don't move."

She was halfway across that quadrant of the field, and whatever her plan was, Imposter could see it was not working.

It got an idea. "Hey, Furfrou," it shouted, reaching into its bag. It withdrew another Sitrus Berry, and the Pokémon came running - Shauna behind him.

"Woah, how'd you do that?" Imposter looked down to her as she spoke. "That guy was right - you really do have a way with Pokémon, don'tcha?"

"You can say that," Froakie muttered, but Imposter ignored him.

Shauna bent down to pet the Furfrou, who was going to town. Imposter could see Froakie reaching forward to steal a bit of the berry, but he only received a growl from the Pokémon.

Imposter found this amusing, a thin smile appearing on its lips. Shauna stood up, grinning as well. "Alright, we should tell that owner guy we-"

"You found my Furfrou!"

"...We found his Furfrou."

Taking it wildly by surprise, the owner nearly picked Imposter up in a Bewear hug from behind. "Oh, thank you so much!" The man gushed, releasing Imposter and grabbing Shauna's hand. He shook it heartily, crushing the girl's fingers. "We really must celebrate." He glanced at his watch. "What time is - oh, it's sunset, that's late enough for fireworks, wouldn't you agree? To the balcony on the second floor! Furfrou, you're coming with me!"

Shauna looked overwhelmed. "Oh boy, if I was a Pokémon, I'd be glad if that wasn't _my_ trainer."

Imposter exhaled, still catching its breath. "Ditto."

* * *

Shauna led it towards the staircase (Imposter was bad with directions) to where the owner said the balcony would be. The sky was turning a soft, dark blue as the sun said its last good-night's of the day.

Shauna's hands lightly touched the rim of the balcony. "By Jove, Imposter," she whispered. "This is gonna be amazing."

The Ditto was wondering what was keeping Serena and the others so long, but Shauna did not seem to care at the moment. "Um... You know...

"I've never watched fireworks alone with a boy before."

Imposter slowly turned downward to face her, and noticed her face taking on a reddish hue.

Humans could do that to their skin!?

"I mean, I'm all about making memories here, but I get the feeling these fireworks..."

She trailed off, breathing slightly heavy. "...I'll never ever forget them.

"'Cause I watched them with you, Imposter."

The Ditto looked ahead and gulped. Attention was not something it was comfortable with yet, and Imposter was getting covered in it.

She was laying her head on it, it realized, shortly before it heard the palace's owner announce the show was about to begin.

Everything was quiet, except for a strange noise coming from the girl to its left. It was the noise a pillow would make if it was repeatedly struck, muffled thumps that it felt through its body, because it was touching the source.

Then the first one was lit. And the second and third. Colors splashed into the air and rained down over the garden, creating a spectacle no Pokémon move could replicate. Imposter felt pressure squeezing its left hand as Shauna took hold of it. A _whizz_ followed by a _boom_ signaled another explosion, and Imposter became vaguely aware of a wet hand holding onto its right ankle: Froakie.

The three stood, awestruck, watching as the display ended almost as quickly as it begun. Imposter could feel the finale's blows shake its hair back; by the time the last one went off, night had completely fallen, and the weight from Shauna's head on its arm (it was too tall for her to reach its shoulder) created a warm place in that area. Then the weight lifted, and the girl reached with her unoccupied hand for her companion's face, turning it towards her.

Imposter was confused, as it believed she wanted to tell it something; but she was saying nothing, only making a weird face. Eyes closed, nose scrunched up, mouth - open, it figured, but it could not be sure. For the heck of it, it decided to try to replicate this with its own lips, but only ended up biting its tongue.

Shauna then grew a few inches taller - closer inspection showed that she was on her toes - and guided Imposter's head lower to hers.

The Ditto had no inkling of what it was expecting, but it did not think she would be getting so close. Then she started eating it.

After a few slightly panicked seconds Imposter realized this was not true. She had placed her mouth on its own, but peculiarly refrained from chewing - or moving at all, it realized.

Drat; she was probably waiting for it to do something. But what? Open its mouth? It tried that, but she only moved accordingly. Something with its hands? That could be anything.

Then it noticed her closed eyes. Maybe that was it. It shut its own eyes, but nothing happened. Maybe something else.

Apparently Froakie saw all this, and did not approve. He climbed up Imposter like a tree, grabbed a tuft of hair from the back of the neck, and yanked.

 _"OOOooowww!"_ Imposter screamed, stumbling backwards. It shook its head, both trying to regain breath and to remove the Water-Type attached to it. It felt its arms reverting back, but caught them just in time to keep up the Transformation. Shauna's eyes bolted open, and her hands flew to her mouth - open now in surprise.

"Uh... Ditto, wha-what happened? Are you okay?" Quickly, she kneeled down beside it. It caught its breath, accepted the situation, and shakily stood up.

It nodded, its face stern.

"Huh, well, if you say so..." Shauna acquiesced, voice shaking. "Um, I-I'm sorry. I really don't know what came over - heeeh, I guess y-you must not like me back then." The last part was squeezed rapidly out from her mouth.

Must not - no, no; of course Imposter enjoyed its human companions. It rapidly shook its head in an effort to tell her she was wrong.

"Y-You don't," she mumbled half-audibly. Imposter disregarded this comment, on account of its volume.

There was a glint in her eye. "Well - in that case, I'm going to go g-get the flute. Maybe... see what's keeping the others. S-Sorry."

Something fell from her face as she turned and jogged away. Curious, Imposter bent down and touched it to find that it was water.

Then it remembered and spun around. "What the heck, Froakie!?"

The Water-Type spluttered. "Puh - what the heck me? What the heck _you_! A human, are you serious? Wanting to be one is one thing, but that what you just pulled - that's where we gotta draw the line. Preferably way before that."

"I don't know what you're talking about." A pause. "'We' have to draw the line? Since when were you in charge of my adventure? You know what-"

It looked around to make sure there were no humans and un-Transformed. However, it was no less animated as a Ditto than as a human - while its face was a lot simpler now, its expressions were just as animated.

"You tell me, what is it that I just 'pulled' that's so wrong?"

Froakie sat there, mouth open. "Dude. She wanted. To _kiss_ you. And you _went_ for it!"

"What does that even mean?"

"What do you mean, what does it mean? You're a stinking Ditto, the universal parent, and you don't know what a smooch is?"

Imposter's face lifted, just barely.

Froakie's mouth closed. He sighed. "So you don't even know. Fine. Now see here, if you're going to try to assimilate into the society of another _species_ , it would pay to do some research."

"That doesn't help me."

"It isn't important, okay? What's important is this. Do you or do you not have feelings for this human?"

Nothing Froakie was saying was making any sense. Yes, it did: it felt her head on its arm, her hand in its hand. It felt the quiet bleatings emanating from her body. Because they were physically touching, making contact. That's how the human nervous system - the one it had been using - worked.

Froakie's face snapped it back to reality. It wanted to explain this all to him, but the pressure of the conversation had shut it up entirely. Why was it the one in trouble now, when Froakie was the one that attacked it?

"I-I still don't understand. I suppose, feelings _of_ her would be more accurate..."

Froakie pinched the bridge of his nose. "I guess you don't get it, huh?" He inhaled. "Whatever. It doesn't matter to me. Just don't do that again. If you do, and she finds out you're a Pokémon, she's going to be ruined inside." He added in a mumble, "...If she ain't already."

Imposter almost said something, but was cut off. "I know you don't understand, just don't do it. And I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Imposter was not angry, but it was madly confused. "Fine, as long as you don't do that again." It reached for the place where the back of its neck would be, if it had one; the spot was still throbbing. "I was this close to blowing my cover. Politely, Froakie, why do you care so much?"

Froakie was quiet. "I said it's not important."

...Fine. Imposter and Froakie were not that close now, and the matter seemed personal. Imposter respected that.

"Okay." The two were quiet for a minute. The silence was only broken by the call of a large bird Pokémon soaring overhead.

"Oh, score, a Fearow," Imposter observed. "Let's see if I can't..."

It trained its eyes on the Flying-Type in question, although as a Ditto its vision was slightly blurred. Regardless, it felt the change happening smoothly.

Froakie watched in fascination as Imposter's armlike protrusions grew long and jagged. Its face contorted into a point; its eyes gained depth and its mouth curved into a beak. It gained a neck - a long one. Pointed talons slithered out from beneath its purple body, and feathers sprouted from it everywhere. All the while its hue changed from purple to maroon to brown to tan.

Normally, Imposter was shy about Transforming in front of others, but now it was ready to show off its expertise. Also, the subject was quickly flying away, and there was no time to lose if it was going to successfully turn. If it lacked its eponymous ability - if it was, say, its friend Limber - it never would have made it in time.

But now the process was over, and it reached down to grab its bag in its beak, taking care that nothing fell out. It lowered a wing. "Get on," it commanded through the strap of its bag.

"Are-Are you sure?"

"Unless you want to walk."

So Froakie awkwardly maneuvered his way onto Imposter's back. "I'll holler if I see 'em," he offered, grabbing the bag with one hand and clutching onto its feathers with the other.

Satisfied with the distribution of weight on its back, between Froakie and the bag, the strap reaching out and around its neck just in case, Imposter gave a couple of practice flaps and took off. It had not been a Flying-Type in so long.

* * *

Imposter landed between two houses at the edge of the city, out of sight to any humans. It offered Froakie a wing to the ground, which he slid down; it removed the bag's strap from around its neck and gladly shifted back into a Ditto.

"There." Froakie patted the Ditto where its back would be, as it was panting. "You - do you need a breather?"

Imposter exhaled. "I'll be fine." It fumbled into its bag for its Trainer Card, and turned back into a human.

Picking up and properly wearing the bag, it stepped out into the open. The humans were gathered at the edge of town, Trevor and Tierno chatting up the Poké Flute player, and Shauna burying her head into a condoling Serena.

The shorter of the girls looked up at it, and Imposter was taken aback by another feat accomplished by the human eye: hers were red.

"Imposter," she greeted, forgoing her nickname for it and stepping away from Serena. "You caught up."

It nodded slowly, afraid of what Froakie would do if it made a mistake. "Um, we-we found the flute."

"We - wanted to wait for you," Serena explained. A shiver ran down Imposter. It was officially nighttime, and understandably cold. "Go ahead, Mr. Shabboneau."

Mr. Shabboneau went ahead. The music was somber, cutting through the nighttime air. Shauna wiped something off her face, causing Imposter to tense at the memory of Froakie's threat.

Sure enough, Serena was right; while the music of the Poké Flute would just as easily have put Imposter to sleep, it was enough to wake the Snorlax.

"Alright, I got it from here-" Serena was digging for her Poké Balls, but Imposter and the Snorlax were already battling. The creature and one of Imposter's traveling Ditto friends were exchanging Body Slams, paralyzing each other, whittling each other down.

"Hey, I was going to catch that!" Serena protested, the moment Ditto landed the finishing blow. Imposter called it back, and the humans could only watch as Snorlax fled towards the mountains.

Imposter saw their faces: Serena's was frustrated, Trevor's disappointed, Shabboneau's confused, Tierno's... He did not seem to be paying attention.

And Shauna's... Shauna's was shocked. She was holding Froakie in her arms, and it looked like she was in the middle of stroking him. His face was hard and unhappy.

None of them looked pleased, and Imposter, fearing both disapproval from its peers and Froakie's warnings, took off through Route Seven, not knowing what it was that it did wrong.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: For real, I play the actual flute. Seeing the Poké Flute played vertically always bothered me. Fellow flutists, back me up here._

* * *

 **...It wasn't so bad, was it? XD**

 **Shauna Shauna Shauna. Sorry, her whole thing with crushing on the male player was such an opportunity to stir up awkwardness, and I couldn't resist!**


	5. Chapter 5

The rocks felt wonderful underneath Imposter's stony feet.

It would never go so far as to think it was tired of being a human, but it was always nice to experiment with becoming other things too. And, because it now found itself faced with crossing a rocky path, the Rhyhorn nearby was the perfect subject to try out. It had to carry its bag in its mouth, but other than that, it looked just like any wild Rhyhorn. It felt like one too.

Rhyhorn was a slow creature, it soon learned, but as one, it was entirely fine with that. It had been in no rush to do anything for the past day or so. Was it even a day? A week? It did not know, nor did it care. All it understood was that it was now light outside, and the last time it had seen either the children or Froakie, it was dark. It had just been mindlessly wandering forwards since then, trying to avoid as much human interaction as possible. Route Seven was behind it, as was the Connecting Cave. Ambrette Town offered little to Imposter, but it cared enough to give its team a rest at the Pokémon Center. Then onto Route Nine. It was surreal, and Imposter remembered all that time the way one would a dream.

It continued to battle, of course. Nothing, it was convinced, could shake its love for that. But it seemed that even its Ditto companions failed to notice something was wrong, save Limber, who only looked at it strangely and stopped asking after only one denial.

Humans. A cave ahead. It tried entering as a Rhyhorn, but was stopped by a Ranger who said something about "keeping wild Pokémon in their natural habitats." Imposter was too indifferent to question why a cave would not be the natural habitat for a Rhyhorn, so it turned around, found a hidden piece of flat land, un-Transformed and napped there for a few hours, and turned back into a human for a proper go at the cave.

There were wild Pokémon. It battled them. Some rocks shone in translucent colors - greens and blues and reds. Running its hands along them caused bits to crumble off, their dust collecting on its fingers. It pushed forwards until it reached a clearing.

A brightly-colored and aggressive-looking trainer stopped it for a battle. It took him down easily and thought little of it, until another - this one slightly different - stopped it again.

It moved around an Oran Berry in its mouth, sucking away the juice until it became a tart, dry sack of fruit skin. It swallowed, sprayed some potions on its team members, and kept walking.

"Hey, who do you think you are, threatening people like that?"

Imposter heard voices; that one was female, and the next, the opposite.

"We're Team Flare. And we don't get messed with by little kids, so get out or we'll have to battle you."

"Both at the same time? Fine, but that's pretty unfair!"

"Does it look like we care?" This third voice was female, too. "Let's see that Pokémon you got there, heh."

"Yeah," the male agreed. "It's pretty tiny. Whatcha gonna do with that small a Water-Type? Spit on us?"

Imposter bumbled along until it turned the corner to see who was speaking. "Hey, I'll have you know I can spit really strong!" Froakie's voice shouted as he shook a tiny fist towards the red-suited duo. "What am I even saying?"

Froakie... that's right, it knew a Froakie.

It sprinted up to the three humans. Serena was in trouble, it realized: it sent out a Ditto.

All three humans stood shocked at its sudden appearance, while Froakie looked appalled. "You - you're back."

"Uh... Ditto," Serena interrupted. "I mean, Imposter - you want to fight with me?"

Even if it did not, it was too late; for the grunts ahead of them had already sent out their battlers, and Froakie had hopped down into the fray.

He looked up at it. "We'll finish this conversation later."

Serena poked it. "Hey, you don't mind..." She pointed to Froakie.

Imposter looked back and forth between the Water-Type and her, nodded, and commanded its Ditto to use Brick Break on the Scraggy into which it had already Transformed.

"Great, and Froakie, use Bubble!" Serena added.

Froakie cut in front of Ditto's attack, shooting out the water first before Ditto could land the supereffective hit. Once the Brick Break came down, however, the opposing Scraggy fainted quickly.

"What"-s came from both his trainer and the Croagunk battling alongside him. Froakie pointed and laughed, receiving a Faint Attack for his taunting.

He gasped. "Egad, you took the wind outta me!" Then, without waiting for orders from Serena, sent another Bubble the Croagunk's way.

Ditto was quick to finish the opponent off with another Brick Break, and the defeated grunts were sent running.

Serena adjusted her hat so that it rested neatly above her ponytail. "Ugh, I've battled some more of those Team Flare guys before. Said they were looking for fossils?"

She exhaled. "Anyway, thanks for coming back. You-you can take your Froakie again, too."

"Ain't its Froakie..." the Water-Type muttered. "Ain't anyone's Froakie..."

Imposter just grinned and nodded. "Come on. I've already gotten what I needed from here. The next stop should be back to Ambrette Town to restore this Sail Fossil, then on towards Shalour to hit up Korrina on that battle I owe her."

She started walking, and Imposter caught up. "How was Viola, by the way? I never asked. Guess because it was so easy for me."

Imposter knew it was not a complete lie to agree, so it did. "Ditto."

Serena chuckled. "Okay, then. Good luck with Grant, but he was a piece of cake, too. Shouldn't be a problem for you."

They walked in silence the rest of the way to Ambrette Town. Her occasional attempts at conversation were quickly shot down every time by its muteness, but it did not mind. It was back with a human and Froakie, and accepted by both. That was what Imposter cared about now.

* * *

It was raining in Cyllage City, so Imposter opted to stay in the Pokémon Center whilst riding out the storm. It found a private room in the back, curtain and all, as Froakie had asked to please speak with it. Always ready to take a break as Ditto, it agreed.

"So what's up?"

Froakie looked at it flatly. "No, what's up with you. Scared a' some humans, or what? Why'dya run away?"

"Um..." It did not really itself know. Maybe it was scared of some humans. Maybe what. It did not know. "Yeah, I guess." It shrugged.

Froakie inhaled. "They missed you, you know."

Imposter smiled fondly. "Well, that's sweet."

"Not for them. You know how bad you messed that one up?" he retorted. Imposter made a face. "I made a whole 'Nobody likes you' song-" he started giggling deliriously. "Anyhows, I ain't one to hold a grudge. Good to have ya back."

The Ditto smiled.

"But still," Froakie reminded it, "You better watch your stunts."

"Heheh."

A pause, then Imposter noted: "Hey, good battling back there, by the way."

Froakie grinned. "Yeah, wasn't it?"

* * *

The Cyllage City Hotel was happy to admit Imposter to a room for the night. It would have rathered to keep in its Poké Ball, nestled in its bag hidden somewhere, but Froakie convinced it that it should have a place to be if any humans came looking. Besides, he argued, where would he keep to (now that he was a 'released little froggy') and what would happen if a thief came across the bag, unguarded and full of Pokémon?

So there Imposter was, but the Froakie was still unable to convince it to sleep outside the Ball. The room was locked, it argued. If someone knocked, it would come out and Transform again before opening the door.

It awoke the next day more dizzy than it had ever remembered being. Vaguely, the sounds of a lead marble rolling around a track came from outside the Ball. It hardly felt itself spinning, but with the semiconsciousness it had, it saw the faintest stripe of black moving down, and appearing again at the top of its vision, and coming back down, and repeating this motion...

Eventually Imposter realized that it found this annoying.

Well, there was one way to fix that, and of course that was to leave the Ball. When it did, it opened its eyes to see Froakie cringing in worry.

"Oh, no! I broke it! Nonono, what will I do?"

"...Froakie?"

"Gosh, I was just batting it around... It's not like I was tossing it or anything..."

"Ahem."

"And it just splits in half-" he grabbed the Ball, and knocked on it as one would a door - "'Pasta, you in there? I didn't mean it, I swear to ya-"

"Froakie."

"Yes?" The Water-Type looked up and recoiled. "Weh!" He hopped backwards, something Imposter did not think was possible. "Um, uh, hi. Didn't - see ya there."

Imposter was not even mad. It reached for the red and white contraption. "Were you playing with my Ball?"

"No." Froakie looked like a child that knew he was in trouble. "...Yes."

Imposter shook its top section (as it lacked a head) and rolled the Ball into its bag. While in there, it shuffled around for its Trainer Card. "Come on. There's a Gym in this city, and I'm feeling a challenge today."

* * *

Rock walls. It had to be rock walls.

This was only Imposter's second Gym challenge, it remembered. Balancing on a spiderweb was one thing - a thing which it felt particularly accomplished doing. But what these humans expected of it required balance, control, grip, strength... The list of things Imposter lacked went on.

It gulped. "What, can't do it?" Froakie guessed. "Don't tell me you're chickening out right here and now. I really thought you'd get farther than this... What a disappointment..." He turned and hopped away.

"Froakie, no; I'm going to figure something out. Get back here."

It put a hand to its chin, a gesture it sometimes saw humans do when deep in thought. It scanned the room; "Kind of wish there was a Mankey around here somewhere."

"Why don't you look in here?" Froakie suggested, pulling out the Ditto's Pokédex. "Should be something useful there."

The Pokédex... That's right. "Froakie, I think you might be a genius."

It opened up the machine, waiting for its three-dimensional interface to load. Scrolling through, it was disappointed to find that it had not yet registered Mankey, but it did find some things that would be interesting to try out on its spare time. Regardless, there were a few primates registered, and while they did not guarantee the climbing prowess that a Mankey did, they looked to provide the closest thing to it.

"Alright. Cover for me?"

"You got it, boss," Froakie agreed with a mocking salute. Imposter rolled its eyes and hid behind a bench they found overlooking the Gym's indoor waterfall.

It stuffed its Pokédex into its bag, which was much heavier now, and walked out the spitting image of a Pansage. "What do you think?"

Froakie raised its brow. "Wow. It worked."

Imposter grinned. "Might as well begin."

The wall seemed much taller to Imposter now, but curling and uncurling its hands gave it confidence that this form would do just fine. Inhaling, it swung itself up and grabbed hold of a piece of wall.

Yes, this was going to be easy.

At the top of the first wall, it looked down to the Froakie, his mouth agape. "Hey, don't follow me or anything."

* * *

One more landing, and Grant would be there, Imposter knew. This was the last rock wall in sight, anyway. It also knew it would have to climb this one as Calem.

So it turned towards the wall (Froakie was watching) and shifted. Its bag, noticeably easier to carry, was now slipped onto its shoulder. It was ready.

If only it could get up this wall.

Four or five times it tried, but fell down shortly and was too shocked by the landing that it kept shifting back. "Need some help there?" Froakie offered, but Imposter saw through the question.

"How could you help me?"

"Eh, I wasn't going to. Just asking if you needed it."

"Hm."

It grabbed a couple of the colored ledges again, wondering how it had been so easy to scale them as a Pansage. It got no more than five feet off the ground when it fell on its back again.

"Ow..."

Its form wobbled a bit, and it would have succumbed to the change if not for Grant's head appearing from the top.

"Hark! Are you a challenger?"

Imposter nodded.

"Do you - need some help?"

It nodded again.

"Well, technically I'm not allowed to provide any, but there's been a lot of racket coming from over there. And I don't want you getting hurt; it's a lot of paperwork, and besides, then you'd be hurt."

Imposter bit its lip, not understanding. "Anyway, if you really need it, I _could_ suddenly have a bout of clumsiness and drop a rope down there, or something."

The Ditto held up a finger. "One... one end? Sure, I guess, but what are you doing with one end of a rope?"

Imposter shrugged as Grant tossed it down. "Whoops."

The Ditto grabbed hold of its end and placed a foot on the wall. It tugged a bit on the rope to make it taut, and the other end came down.

"So you did want the whole thing. No need to limit yourself, you know. Now here, toss me up an end and I'll secure it to one of these rocks."

Imposter almost questioned his logic, but was too focused on getting up there. It reared back and somehow tossed the rope up on the first try.

It bobbed in Imposter's hands as Grant tied it up. "Now give it a shot," he suggested.

"Eh, what kind of help is that," Froakie complained, although it was not his place to. Imposter was more grateful.

Slowly this time, the Pokémon made its way up to Grant's level, its partner following behind. "There you are," the Gym Leader said. "Say, you look a lot better up close than from all the way down there. Your team all ready? I say we get this show on the road."

"Ditto."

Grant quirked an eyebrow. "So he does talk! Anyway, well, go, Amaura!"

 _You are challenged by Leader Grant!_

He sent out Amaura, and Imposter's Ditto Transformed.

Thunder Wave. The Amaura knew Thunder Wave, Ditto was telling it.

That paralyzes Pokémon, Imposter once learned in a skirmish against a Pikachu.

It had a Pokémon that could not get paralyzed.

It could make the Gym Leader waste a move.

It withdrew Ditto. "Go, Limber!"

"Another Ditto," Grant observed, cracking his neck. "Amaura, Rock Tomb."

In addition to getting hurt, the surprise of the hit slowed poor Limber.

"Imposter, what? Is this a Gym fight?" Limber asked, its voice shaking. "You know I'm not good enough at Transforming to do this."

"Limber, use Transform."

Limber practically sighed before acquiescing to do so. Before it was done, however, Amaura shot an Aurora Beam out.

The Ditto gained footing, now as the quadrupedal Ice-Type. "Okay, now what?"

"Paralyze it."

Amaura Rock Tomb-ed again, and Limber was nearly finished, while Grant's Pokémon had yet to be touched. Limber swiftly put an end to that by using Thunder Wave. Now it would be faster.

"Good, now Take Down."

Without hesitation, Limber ran at the Amaura with all the force it had. It slammed into her, but was the one that looked more surprised: "Is that an Ice-Type move?"

"Refrigerate," explained the opposing Pokémon, who had kept quiet until now. She blowed some air out from inside her, which Imposter soon realized was preparation for another Aurora Beam.

"No, Limber-" Imposter cried, seeing its friend in trouble. "Avoid it!"

But Limber could not, and so it went down. "I'm sorry," it breathed before its trainer called it back.

Imposter bit its tongue again. The Amaura took Limber, making its pessimistic friend feel even less confident in its battling abilities. Frustrated was a word Imposter had picked up recently, and very much was feeling now.

It sent out another. "Ditto, Aurora Beam it."

"Amaura, Rock Tomb!"

Ditto went first, shaking the opponent. It took the counterattack poorly, but Imposter felt fine.

 _Ditto used Rock Tomb!  
_ _Amaura used Thunder Wave!  
_ _Ditto is paralyzed! It may be unable to move!_

Imposter's tongue was about to burst from chewing so hard.

"Ditto, Rock Tomb again."

"Same for you, Amaura."

Both battlers were now considerably whittled down, and Imposter did not want to face Grant's next one in this condition. It switched in another Ditto, which took the next Rock Tomb well.

It delivered one last hit, and Amaura went down.

The next was Tyrunt, another Pokémon Imposter had never seen before. But it was not deterred. It commanded a Take Down.

Tyrunt looked like it was hurt. Taking Imposter by surprise, he opened his large maw and shouted: "Hey, what gives, Amaura? Did you get traded away? Why're you attacking me?"

Imposter was about to correct him when Ditto interrupted. "Hun, you know exactly why."

"W-What?"

Grant inserted his input: "Tyrunt, Rock Tomb."

Hesitantly, Tyrunt did, and Ditto shook it off. "Amaura... don't you... like me anymore?"

Imposter was able to see that the opposing Pokémon was flustered, just not why. Cautiously, it kept on: "Use Thunder Wave."

Tyrunt gulped. Ditto executed the move expertly, keeping up its shtick well enough that the opponent did not even move. "Now Aurora Beam."

"Why are you doing this to me..."

But Imposter liked how much damage the move did, and after Ditto evaded a Bite, it commanded it to go in for the win.

"Ditto, use Aurora Beam again."

Tyrunt reacted. "Ditto!?"

But it was too late to explain, because immediately after the secret was blown, the finishing move had hit and Tyrunt had fainted.

 _You defeated Leader Grant!_

Grant smirked while the trainers called back their Pokémon. "Hey, good job, challenger. Here - for your efforts."

 _Imposter received the Cliff Badge from Grant!_

Wow, Imposter realized - it now had two badges. Both of them were pinned in the velvet case in its Trainer Card, ready to show off whenever it felt so inclined.

It smiled in gratitude, then turned to climb, somehow, back down the wall. "Yo," the leader called, "There's a ramp down this way, if you feel like those rocks'll be giving you more trouble."

It gladly chose the ramps.

 _~End of Part Two~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Couldn't find a good place to put it in the story, so I'll say it here: Imposter was caught in a Premier Ball, my personal favorite. I just really like the color distribution._

* * *

 **Team Flare, yesss. Most of the best chapters in this story involve them, so hold onto your 'Dexes, because things are going to start heating up real soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

Today's was warm for a Kalosian noon this time of year. If Imposter had known better, it would have shielded its eyes from the sun overhead; but, as it lacked the rationality to do so, its eyes continued to burn pitifully in their sockets largely without it even noticing.

It was because of this that Imposter found itself constantly walking into large stone walls.

The Ditto's blindness was thus accompanied by numbness all over its body as it continued to fumble along the green Route Ten. It could hardly feel its bag's one strap slicing into its collarbone. It was, however, able to feel a large, pudgy hand placed on the other shoulder.

"Yo, I didn't know you had moves like that," came a familiar voice. "Just be careful you don't keep slammin' into these rocks. That's gotta hurt, no?"

Imposter turned around in a daze. The large shadow of a human speaker covered up the sun, and taking this opportunity, it blinked to regain bits of vision.

"Dit-it-it-" it mumbled, shaking. It recognized something about this human, somehow, but could not tell what, and was rather frustrated.

"Anyhows, long time no see. Ya look a little - dizzy, there. Wanna hand getting to town? It's not far away."

A patch cleared in Imposter's vision. A round head with little hair appeared, along with the friendly face of someone Imposter knew it had met before, but could not place.

"You look like you're gonna fall down. Hey, I gotcha, buddy," the human announced. Before it knew what was happening, it felt itself rising up - its feet no longer touching the ground. Feeling pleased about this, it made no objection. It finally closed its eyes when it realized it was being carried and did not have to see where it was walking. "Hey, you're quite a bit lighter than I expected."

It jolted to a start when, a few minutes later, its feet hit the dirt. "Here we are, uh... Ditto," the human said. "Geosenge Town."

Imposter was relieved to find out that its eyes were now once again functioning properly. To what extent, it could not tell, because most human towns it had visited lacked the large stones in the center of this one. They looked as though someone had buried the three-digit claw of a huge Dragon-Type and left it halfway uncovered to collect moss.

"Wish I could stay and learn some of those moves you were busting out back there," Imposter heard a human saying; probably the one who had brought it here. "Serena wants us to meet her in Shalour City, though, and as soon as possible. Can you believe she's already beat Korrina?"

Imposter could believe it, but mostly for lack of understanding who Korrina was. "So I gotta go. See you around."

And the boy jogged off, already panting as he did so. Slow, quiet applause redirected Imposter's attention.

"Good job, my man, you handled that one excellently," Froakie remarked from behind it. The sarcasm was lost on Imposter, however.

"Um, thanks, but what did I do that was so fantastic?"

"Nothing, that's the point," he explained. "Did you even remember that that was somebody you know?"

"Y-yes, who was it?"

Froakie blinked. "Hey, it's not my job to keep track of names, it's yours. Dunno, it was something with a 'T' and I think an 'N' in it somewhere. But you're just majorly out of it today, aren'tcha?"

Imposter spluttered. "And - where were you when I needed to be told not to bump into things?"

"Off to the side, laughing at you bumping into things," was his proud retort. "That being said, your cognizance level must be even lower than I first thought!"

Imposter would have had a better reply if it knew what the insult was. Instead, it made an observation. "You know a bunch of neat words, huh?"

"You try living with a twenty-five-year-old with a professor's degree. You pick up a few things."

"Touché."

Froakie snorted. "So at least you know a good rebuttal."

"You try living with a nineteen-year-old boy. You learn snarky comebacks."

"Touché."

Imposter hummed and Froakie laughed. "Well, better get on your way, then. Wouldn't want to keep Serena waiting. You do at least remember her, don't you?"

"Sabrina? Never heard of him." Froakie recoiled, and Imposter shrugged. "I'm just messing with you. We'll go, but not before a rest at this here Pokémon Center."

* * *

"Hey, see that over there?"

"See what?"

"What do you mean, see what? You can't miss 'im. Unless - have you been staring at the sun again?"

"...No..."

"I'm down here, bozo."

"...Yes."

Froakie pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, it's just another one of those guys. You know, the ones with those bright outfits."

"...I don't know what you're talking about. All humans wear clothes. They seem to like them a lot."

"Yeah, guess they do," Froakie decided. "Just thought you'd like to know, but seems like it doesn't even matter. Say, there's a cave up ahead; it'd be a good chance to get you out of the sun for a while, eh?"

"Yeah, alright."

So in they went, expecting all to be well as the journey continued.

Imposter had handled caves before, and considered itself an expert on navigating the dark, humid dwellings of Rock-Types and lost trainers. As it soon found out, it was wrong.

Two trainers in, and Imposter was down three Ditto and was missing medicine to preserve the other two. A third battle quickly defeated them, and Imposter was forced to retreat back to Geosenge. It returned to Reflection Cave shortly, and then again to Geosenge not long after that.

Imposter's third attempt must have been the proverbial charm. After wandering for longer than it was comfortable with, avoiding trainers and a Wobbuffet that it was halfway positive was stalking it, it came upon an empty chamber.

Light came in from cracks in the ceiling, passing through a sheet of stained glass-like material that the Pokédex said was created by Carbink. Hues of pink, orange, blue, and white fell to the ground, illuminating the center.

Captivated by this phenomenon, Imposter continued to step forward, despite knowing it was a dead end. It massaged its eyes, having to again adjust to a change in brightness.

"Wow, that sure is pretty," Froakie noted. He faced upwards. "Hey, look at you! You look exhausted. D'you even know how late it is?"

"We've been in this dang cave practically all day," it explained. "I'm not a Hoothoot - well, not currently - so I have no idea. Usually just go by how dark it is, but there's no sky here."

"Well, I'm beat too. Plus, there are no humans or creepy Psychic-Types in here to worry about. Let's camp out here, whaddya say? I mean, if Serena was expecting us soon, she's already disappointed as she's gonna get."

Imposter sighed and deformed. "I guess you're right," it decided, hoisting its bag off. "Let's find a cozier place in here and stay the night."

Froakie hopped along to the corner where Imposter was dragging its bag. "Don't need to tell me twice."

* * *

Suddenly, Imposter was sprinting.

No - it was flying.

"That's it. We're almost back to Vaniville. Right this way!"

The speaker was a Pidgey, which it presumed to be wild. It figured also that it had been Transformed into this one, as no other bird Pokémon were in sight. "Good," it responded. "I'll get to see how Grace is doing. You think Calem's home for a visit too?"

"Why not?"

The two birds perched on a branch of a neighborhood tree, overlooking a building not dissimilar to Grace's house. "Look - is that him?"

"That's him!"

"Of course, who else would it be?"

Imposter smiled as best it could with a beak. "Calem! Over here, it's your friend!" Imposter cooed, but he did not seem to hear. "Pidgey, he can't hea-"

Imposter stopped when it saw that next to it was no longer a Pidgey but its buddy Limber. "Hey, what kind of trick is this?"

Limber opened its mouth in response, but said no words. Its mouth, it figured soon enough, was not a mouth at all but a growing black spot in its vision.

Imposter backed away slowly. Like a black hole, the surroundings appeared to become sucked into the growing sphere. Limber was nowhere to be found. Neither was the tree. Or Grace's house. Or much of anything else. Imposter itself was being pulled in at an alarming speed.

Everything was black for a long time. Imposter could feel only itself panting heavily, but could hear nothing.

After a minute more of terrified confusion, a voice reached Imposter's otic cavities: "Gard... ...you eating... ...reams again..?"

A majestic and feminine cry followed and Imposter regained its senses. The shock of this finally startled it awake.

"Come here. The dreams of wild Pokémon aren't your business, you know."

There was a human here! Imposter peeked out from behind the rock outcropping where it had been sleeping. Right, it was still in this dang cave.

So was a human trainer and her Gardevoir, it seemed. Imposter studied the pair. If not for her unique haircut and style of dress, it never would have recognized the woman that it met in Lumiose City days ago.

She was sitting up straight, cross-legged, on the cold ground where colored light animated her white dress.

"Now, breathe in, breathe out. Gardevoir... use Calm Mind."

The Pokémon and trainer were breathing in sync with each other. Both had their eyes closed, heads bowed at nothing.

There was easily enough room overhead, Imposter decided, and Transformed. Cautiously, it stepped up to the pair.

What would it say? Well, no matter what it said, only one of them would be able to understand; it was a better idea to stay mute.

The young woman ahead of it was rather easy on the eyes, Imposter would admit, but so were all humans as far as it was concerned. It made a few strides forward in curiosity.

Her brown hair, cut short in a cornrow braid around her head, was the only part of her appearance not colored by the circle of light in which she sat.

Imposter only noticed her necklace when the stone embedded within it began to glow. The Gardevoir beside her was wearing a matching one; different stone, same glow.

It reached out, wanting to touch this peculiar human. It placed a hand on her head, just to feel her hair. It was sleek.

The human opened one eye, then two. "Wah! W-What are you doing here?"

She scrambled backwards. The stones stopped glowing. "How'd you find out about this place?"

Imposter took back its hand and looked at her with confusion. She stood. "And while we're meditating, too. Being Champion is a stressful job, you know."

She giggled, smugly. "Well, I guess you wouldn't. But honestly, what brought you here? Especially this early in the morning. Thought you never got up before noon?"

Imposter hiccuped. Wanting to explain itself, it remembered how bad its people skills were. It stepped backwards.

"Oh, wait, I'm sorry. You're the brother, aren't you? Gosh, this is embarrassing. Imposter, right?"

The Ditto's heart skipped a beat; as far as it remembered, it never told her its name. "Relax, Augustine told me all about you. Pity, what you've gone through. I wouldn't wish that upon my greatest enemy."

Augustine? The Fletchinder story. It was remembering now.

"Regardless of that, my question still holds." She wrinkled her brow, and changed her tone from accusatory to curious: "What _are_ you doing here?"

It looked around and shrugged. It was just here on its adventure, like any trainer that might pass through Reflection Cave. It only stayed the night because this part of the cave was pretty, and that was it.

"Are-Are you lost?"

That it was. It nodded.

"...I see. Well, I'd gladly escort you out. Are you headed for Geosenge or Shalour?"

It nodded again at the second one, the lady confirmed it, and Imposter agreed. "Alright. Follow us, then."

Imposter held up a finger while it ran back - tripping on the way, of course - to grab its bag and Froakie. (The latter was still snoozing, mumbling something along the lines of "Uh, it's not my Furret!")

"It's really not that far to Shalour. If only you'd kept going you would have made it in a jiff," the human insisted.

Various trainers turned when they saw her walking through the cave, but no one dared speak to her. Imposter eventually realized that it still lacked her name.

It dug around in its bag for its Trainer Card and tapped its companion's shoulder.

It pointed questioningly to the space where its own name was, then to her. "Oh, you want to know my name," she inferred after a few seconds. "My mistake. It's Diantha."

"Where's my lava cookie..." Froakie subconsciously wondered, nestled in Imposter's arms.

* * *

"Here we are," Diantha exclaimed after a trek. "Big Shalour City. Home of the Tower of Mastery and of course, an official Kalos League Pokémon Gym. You ought to check them both out. I know Korrina would be thrilled."

Today was overcast, but even yesterday's sunshine could not amount to the brightness on Imposter's face. "I take it you'd be happy too?" Diantha remarked. "Verily, then, I have done my job. Good day, and if you'll please excuse Gardevoir and myself, we must be leaving."

Imposter understood and shook its hand in her face. This was called waving, it had once learned. You do that to people when you say goodbye.

"Um-" she used a finger to push down its whole hand. "So long to you as well."

Then she turned and went back into that dang cave. Imposter hardly looked back.

It was finally in Shalour City; Serena would be waiting no longer.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: The dream sequence involving a Pidgey is no coincidence. At first, there was going to be one traveling with Imposter and Froakie, to use the HM Fly. Unlike Froakie, though, he added nothing, and failed to make the final cut._

* * *

 **Ugh, chapter six. Wanna hear the story of how his chapter once ruined my day? Well, the short version is that it once accidentally got replaced by all of chapter seven. A few hours of agony (thinking I'd have to rewrite the whole thing) later, and I realized that Google Docs saves all versions of the document since its creation. A copy and a paste later, and I had my chapter back!**

 **Moral of the story is, use Google Docs, kids!**

 **(Oh yeah, and the special colorful light chamber is an actual place in Reflection Cave, sorta hidden in the back somewhere. Anyone know what it's for? Because I've never actually - figured that out.)**


	7. Chapter 7

The great roar of what Imposter was sure was a Dragon-Type sounded overhead. Rolling gray stratus clouds kept the sky free of much other than a large building across town, so spotting the culprit was easy.

A red Pokémon completely foreign to Imposter was flying overhead. After a couple seconds, Imposter realized, the creature was flying directly toward it.

It instinctively put one foot backwards to keep balance, protectively clutching Froakie with both hands the way humans would one of their infants. The Pokémon landed in front of it, and that was when it noticed his passenger.

"Good landing, Charizard," complemented Serena. "Now, you. Didn't we all agree to meet here in Shalour? What's kept you so long? I've already beaten Ramos in the time it took for you to get out of that dang cave, you know," she informed proudly.

Imposter opened its mouth. "Regardless. Let's see that Trainer Card. How far along even are you?"

Hesitantly but trustingly, Imposter pulled it out. "Tsk, tsk." Serena evaluated its progress. "Only two? I was hoping you'd have beaten Korrina by now. We're supposed to be learning about Mega Evolution from her gramps, but he won't tell us anything unless we've all proven ourselves by beating his granddaughter, the Gym Leader. Still waiting on only you and Trevor, who's working on it now. So you're coming with me. To the Gym."

She called Charizard back into his Poké Ball. Taking Imposter by surprise (so much that its calves wobbled with the sensation of deforming), Serena grabbed onto one of its wrists and took off.

Imposter figured she should know by now that it was unable to run well, but apparently she did not. It had no choice, however, and kept up with her as best it could.

* * *

"Now see, this Gym focuses on a trainer's physical ability, as well as the Pokémon's," Serena explained. "You need to navigate the rink in the center on these roller skates. You were able to pick up a pair, right?"

It glanced downwards at Froakie (who had awoken by now), slightly panicking. What even were roller skates? It sent the Water-Type this look, who returned with a shrug.

Serena lifted a foot to show that underneath, attached to her shoe, was a removable pair of wheels she could flip out and in whenever she wanted. Taking note, Imposter studied the contraption. It could easily whip up something like that, it was sure.

It sat down on the ground, folding one leg over the other so that the sole of one foot was facing it, out of Serena's view. Glancing back and forth between its work and its subject - her roller skates - it carefully morphed wheels onto the bottoms of both its feet.

It gave one of them a spin. Worked like a charm, though it tickled. Now was the hard part: standing up.

One foot down. Incredibly unsturdy. Rolling the foot back and forth, an idea formed; it flattened the very bottoms of the wheels, keeping them from rolling and providing a tiny base for it to stand on.

However did humans learn to use these things without being able to Transform them?

It shakily stood up. Even with its modified version of the skates, keeping balance was ridiculously hard, and it was too unprepared for how much taller the skates made it. It fell down a total of seven times before Serena gave up and helped it along.

"Come on," she commanded, reaching up to secure its shoulders. Herself wearing roller skates, she impressed Imposter with her ability to get them both moving; it rounded the wheels and felt itself being pushed.

Froakie crept along as Imposter inched forward. "Hey, you know, I'm not gonna just push you this whole way," Serena announced, to Imposter's chagrin. "Now you're standing, so try moving. It's just like walking... kind of... just in strides. Like-"

She was cut off by the sound of a passing trainer's greeting. "Heyo, Serena! Imposter!"

"Hi, Trevor! Get your badge yet?"

"About to. Gotta heal the team, first. Heheheh..."

Serena motioned towards him as he skated away. "-Like him. He just learned today, too."

That did not help Imposter. "Here. Hold on." She let go, making sure it was standing up. It created its platform and watched her demonstration.

"You just... push off with one foot at a time. Don't pick your feet up so often, and make sure not to go Pidgey-toed. See?"

She skated away, then circled back to Imposter. "Now you try."

Push off with one foot at a time... that was no different from when Grace taught it how to walk as a biped. It inhaled, and making its wheels round, went for it anyway.

One push on skates took it three times the length of a typical non-skating step. Clearly unprepared for this, it wiped out.

Serena rolled up to it. "I can see this is going to take a while."

Feet away, it could hear Froakie laughing it up.

* * *

It took a lot of practice and patience on Serena's part to get Imposter to the Gym Leader, but eventually they made it.

"You." The girl pointed out Serena. "Your team was tough. What brings you back to my Gym?"

"Korrina, you goofball, trying to be all serious. This here is the last of Sycamore's pupils. He has everyone call him Imposter - I can't tell you if that's his real name, but that's what he goes by, so we just roll with it."

Korrina sent her a stern look. "Are you-"

"Making a pun? No, just heard it now. Sorry. Anyway... You should totally battle my friend sohecanfinallygethisbadge. Now, goooo..."

Serena kept the last syllable up for longer than she looked comfortable with, until Korrina sent out her Hawlucha.

Imposter sent in Ditto. "And, Imposter," Serena added, causing the Ditto to turn. Her eyes narrowed, her mouth lost all traces of a smile, and her jaw hardened.

"Don't lose this fight."

Imposter lost.

Serena admitted later to expecting this, but that did not keep her impatience down. She grabbed it by the wrist and dragged it along to the Gym again, attempt after attempt, each time appearing more and more frustrated.

"Why do you keep leading with that regular Ditto if you have so many Hidden Ability ones?"

"Hawlucha is a Flying-Type with moves powerful against Fighting-Types like itself - and the Ditto Transformed into it."

"Why aren't you using your Froakie? I'm sure he's just itching to battle such a strong opponent."

(To that, Froakie responded: "Ain't no way. Not against something that screams every time it uses a move.")

"You've got to work on being faster than her! Put on a Quick Powder, or something - heck, at this point, take my Quick Claw!"

"No... Why don't you learn that you're not using effective moves?"

"Do you ever train anything other than Ditto!?"

All Imposter understood was that it was tired, and wanted to un-Transform for a while - preferably in the nearby Pokémon Center, munching on a Sitrus Berry.

Serena huffed as she approached Korrina's stadium again, Imposter in tow. "This will be the one," she breathed.

And she was right. Imposter lost a total of one Ditto during that battle, the main battler knocking out Korrina's team without a problem.

Korrina growled as she handed over the badge. Serena looked relieved, sending the Gym Leader a happy smile. Korrina said nothing, looking down at the one skate she rolled back and forth.

Before leaving to flaunt its victory, Imposter vaguely noticed Serena slip something to the Leader. It decided to make nothing of it, instead heading to the Shalour City Hotel where Froakie was sure to be waiting.

* * *

Imposter awoke to thuds at its hotel room window. Looking around, it took a while to figure out they were just Fletchling flying around, making fools of themselves.

It also took a second to realize that it was not even in its Poké Ball, nor was it Transformed. Apparently it had been so worn last night that it had just gotten into its room, flopped on the bed, deformed, and zonked out without even taking care of its bag. The night was incredibly dark when it had finally left the Gym victorious, but now that it did, it was happy to be able to stop battling for a while.

And thinking of resting... there was that Sitrus Berry it had promised itself.

It was eerily quiet as Imposter nibbled its breakfast, but it had only noticed for a moment before running into and having to discard the pit. Another Fletchling bumped the window again, drawing Imposter's attention to the sunlight streaming in through the panes.

So, it was probably late in the morning. Imposter did not mind that at all; after working so hard - gaining two Gym badges in as many days! - it did not plan to do much today. Berry taken care of, it would have contented itself falling right back to sleep, if not for a pounding on its door.

It reached for its bag, where its Trainer Card was located; but it was too slow. Serena, finding the door to be unlocked, busted in demanding its presence.

It panicked - it could never Transform fast enough at this rate to be Calem, and the only option was to hide. Luckily, Ditto were masters of camouflage.

Floral print bedsheets? No problem, plus Flabébé was a small Pokémon to begin with and easy to overlook. Although it had not become one recently, that was its only choice. It curled up, forcing the process.

Long ears... a petite face... a little round body with - did Flabébé have tails? Well, this one was going to... and of course, the flower... What color was the flower...

Anyway, those details did not need to be perfect, just convincing. As its miniscule eyes formed, it began to sense Serena approaching.

"He left his bag..." her voice loudly announced. It watched as she took it upon herself to close the flap. She looked around the room, apparently failing to notice it; she walked away, reaching into her own bag.

Imposter breathed a tiny sigh of relief. It needed to take it back, however, when it saw Serena reapproaching with a Poké Ball in her hands.

"Hah! Don't know how you got here, but the shiny luck was with me with Chesnaught and it's with me again!"

She poked the button, readying the Ball for the throw. "White flower Flabébé with a purple body? Trevor would be flipping. Out!"

Imposter glanced at itself. What did she mean? It could have sworn Flabébé were white and purple, or some other feminine color. It would be sure to check the Pokédex as soon as it could. After all, Ditto - Imposter included, except in Calem's case - were known to get details wrong if Transforming from memory.

It floated towards its bag. Its own Ball - the one in which it was caught by Grace - was nestled in there; that would be its escape.

Serena threw. Imposter reached the bag - now to get inside. It looked back to judge its chances of making it, just in time for the Ball to bonk off its nose.

The contraption opened up, and Imposter steeled itself not to look back to see the red glow emanating from it. Instead it dove into its bag and willed itself into its own Ball. Serena would discover it gone at some point and move on, continuing the search for the human trainer she knew as Imposter.

* * *

Time was difficult to judge when one is halfway between matter and energy, and even more so between consciousness and unconsciousness. Somehow, it is possible, however, and when a Pokémon needs to do it, a little focus can go a long way.

After what Imposter thought to be around five or ten minutes, its strained hearing ceased to betray Serena's presence. It let itself out, being sure to land outside of the bag. It scanned the room; no sign of any humans, but the door was slightly open. That was fine. It retrieved its Card, Transformed, fit the bag on its body, and left the building.

The sun said it was a couple hours past noon. Now it was realizing that Serena was probably looking for it for that engagement with the Gym Leader's grandfather, and began to feel remiss for arriving late.

Suddenly it heard yelling. From a few blocks down - Imposter's blood ran cold when it finally recognized the voice: Serena's.

Running as a human would get it nowhere. Pokédex, out. Dark alley, found. Page for Pidgey, located. Bag, stashed. Self, Transformed. Card, in beak.

It landed near the site of the screaming, turned human, and sprinted out. "Imposter! They have - get them!"

She pointed out a couple of humans dressed fully in red, down to the hair color. One of them saw it and froze. The other was holding Froakie with both hands, and started running.

"I've got her. You take care of - where's your bag? I thought your team was in there?"

Imposter shrugged.

"Agh!" Serena booked it towards the fleeing human. "Get over here! Forget about him, she's got your Pokémon!" She fumbled in her own bag. "Chesnaught, go!"

The huge Pokémon that emerged was foreign to Imposter, but apparently not the other way around. "It's you," he growled.

"Chesnaught, Team Flare at eleven o'clock!"

He turned, then rolled after his trainer. Imposter was stunned, as it had never seen a Pokémon move so fast.

Serena and Chesnaught were now out of sight. There was one thing Imposter could do.

There and then it mustered the muscle memory from being a Pidgey just moments ago and Transformed, not paying much attention to the remaining human. It took off, scanning the area for its friends.

Flying was immensely difficult, due to either panic, a weak Transformation, or a combination of the two. Finally it found them and thought nothing - just swooped.

Froakie was too busy viciously kicking at its stubborn captor - who was too busy warding off Froakie's blows - for either of them to acknowledge that Imposter was even there. In the back of its mind it remembered that it would never attack a human, and stuck out its talons.

Crying out, it landed on the person's head and gripped her hair. It flapped in her face. It snipped off one miniature pigtail with its beak. Outraged, the human dropped Froakie and reached for the bird on its head.

"Go to Serena," it commanded its Water-Type friend. One of the human's hands grabbed one of its wings, which it desperately shook free.

Dodging punches, Imposter launched off her head. Only when it was a good twenty feet above the scene was it comfortable perching on a nearby windowsill and looking down.

Serena had grasped Froakie in her arms, holding him close. He looked as though he had just escaped one bad situation only to find himself in an equally unfavorable one.

Only two creatures were looking up at it: Chesnaught, who was glaring menacingly, and farther away (it would never have noticed if not for Pidgey's exceptional eyesight), the male human who had worked to take Froakie away. The latter was still staring at it, speaking into some device in a panicked fashion.

Now, Imposter's work was done. It navigated the streets to find the places it had left its Trainer Card and bag, collected them, and set off for where it last saw Serena.

 _Now_ , she would be waiting no longer.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Up to Korrina's Gym, I had been playing with five Limber Ditto. The Fighting weakness was unbeatable though, and I had to replace four of them with ones that had the Hidden Ability. Of course, Imposter's experience in this Gym had to reflect this difficulty._

* * *

 **The Pokédex says that Ditto have trouble Transforming when going from memory, so... shenanigans.**

 **Um, has anyone else been having trouble updating recently? I've been getting error messages whenever putting these up, then failing to get the email saying they're up. So I've had to take them down and reupload a couple times. If you've been getting multiple emails per chapter (or none at all), then that's why, although I can't say I know what the problem is.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Coupla battles this chapter. They're actually rather tough to write, so any advice on how to make them more interesting would be greatly appreciated.**

 **Also, warning! Major characterization is coming up! Those with allergies to backstory should proceed with caution.**

* * *

There they were.

It expected to have to walk around the whole way before it found Serena and Froakie again, but it discovered that the two had been making their ways towards it as well, causing them to meet in the middle.

"Ah - there you are," Serena greeted. "Anyway, I uh, got your Froakie back."

The little Water-Type looked up at Imposter and grinned, hopping over. The girl continued. "Yeah, you should have seen us out there - me running up, demanding she stopped in her tracks - Chesnaught had cornered her, and the poor little grunt could do nothing but send out her one tiny Pokémon - Chesnaught pummelled it into the ground. It was awesome."

Imposter bought the story, but Froakie looked puzzled. "Eheh, that's not what actually happened. Really, she just stopped because some random ol' Pidgey came and landed on her. How funny is that?"

Now Imposter remembered the escapade. It nodded. Sure was funny.

"Either way, though, you still should have been there. To get your Pokémon back, I mean. You know you can't expect to get so lucky all the time, I won't always be there. I mean, because I've got my own adventure to do. The only reason I'm in Shalour and not fighting Clemont right now is because I've been waiting for you so we can-"

She stopped right there. "Gosh, the Mega Evolution guru! We've got to get to the Tower of Mastery!"

As if on instinct by now, she reached again for Imposter's wrist. Finally catching on that this meant running, it pulled away.

Serena scoffed. "If you don't want to get dragged along," she replied, pulling out a yellow bicycle from her bag, "then keep up with the journey."

She pedalled off. Imposter turned to Froakie, reaching for its Pokédex.

"Should we follow her?"

Froakie shrugged. "I think you'd better."

"Then what do you think-" It showed Froakie the pages it was scrolling through. "Fast, or stylish?"

Froakie laughed. "Oh, man, fast, baby! The first one!"

Soon enough, anyone paying attention could see an enthused Froakie, complete with a messenger bag, atop the back of a wild Electrike, the two booking it full speed in the direction of the Tower of Mastery.

* * *

Once properly humaned up, Imposter walked to the skyscraper's entrance and barged in with Froakie in tow.

Serena was the first to notice. "Okay, he's here now. That's all five. Mr. Gurkinn, sir, could you tell us what you know about Mega Evolution?" She was breathing heavily, probably in excitement.

Imposter took in the room. An enormous statue of what seemed to be a Pokémon stood at the center, and in front of it were three familiar humans, one unfamiliar one, the Gym Leader, Serena, and itself.

The old-looking one - Gurkinn, apparently - answered the request. "Now hold your Mudbray, young one," he instructed. "You'll get nowhere by rushing around with things."

Korrina, who was standing beside him, interrupted. "I mean, that's not always true. Just look at me." She said this seriously, lacking any indication she might be joking.

Gurkinn put a hand on her shoulder. "You'll learn someday, Korrina," he insisted. "In the meantime, these five need to learn something else, don't they?"

Shauna cheered, and Serena quickly agreed. "Mega Evolution," Gurkinn began, "is a very special experience for both Pokémon and trainer."

As the old man continued to speak, Imposter saw the eyes of its friends continuing to grow with increasing curiosity. Human eyes, it was reminded, were fascinating things. As difficult as they were to form (and maintain, as it had learned two days ago), they were powerful as any Pokémon move it had ever been hit with.

For how long it was studying them, only one pair had met with Imposter's. They lingered a moment before the Ditto forced itself to snap back to Gurkinn's explanation. What was he was even talking about?

"...fully-evolved Pokémon can evolve even further..."

The man might have been speaking the language of ancient Ransei, for all Imposter knew. It could focus only on those eyes - now it remembered just why it had not seen these people for so long. Imposter had upset Shauna somehow, and if her eyes had told it anything, she did not appear to be over it.

What it even did in the first place, it was clueless.

There was something else in that look, too - a sense of... forgiveness, or did Imposter just want to see it that way?

"...And that is basically all we know about Z-Power. I mean, Mega Evolution. That's a totally different thing you may learn about in, say, three years, if you keep training on."

"Woah, that's amazing," Serena exclaimed. "So if I give my Chesnaught a Mega Stone, it can become completely superpowered? More than he already is, I mean," she added with a laugh.

"Well, not all Pokémon can Mega-Evolve," Gurkinn explained. "But I do want you five each to travel with a Mega Ring, at the request of your instructor, the professor. If you do, I'm sure you will find some that can, and aid in our research."

"Of course," Serena agreed. "I'd love to help with that!"

"That's the thing, though." Gurkinn stopped. "You see, that's what I want of you, but there is a problem. I only have one Mega Ring, so you all will have to agree who will use it."

Disappointment befell the faces of the children. "Well-" Shauna stepped up. "I know just how much Serena wants it, and I'm no good at battling. You can count me out."

"Yeah," Trevor agreed. "The professor gave us a couple of jobs, after all. Someone else can tackle this; I'd rather work on the Pokédex."

The large boy who helped Imposter out yesterday - Tierno, it realized, now that it saw him clearly, and surrounded by the rest of the group - shuffled his feet. "I guess, as much as I'd love to see my partners go Mega - I'd have no idea how to use it properly."

"Tierno, your Pokémon would just make a huge mess!" Trevor suggested genially. "You all move around so much. No one would be able to keep up."

"So that just leaves... me and Imposter, I guess," Serena observed. "Well, uh... Ditto, I don't know about you, but I sure would love to see what my team can do full-power."

Without even realizing, Imposter responded. "Scared thinking about it." It gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of its neck. Then it realized.

They could not hear anything out of its mouth but 'Ditto.'

Serena's mouth dropped, but she recovered quickly. "You feel the same way, huh? Can-Can your Ditto even use Mega Evolution? Well, if you're really serious about this, we'll have to battle for it."

The room became dead silent.

"Serena, you should do it," Shauna decided. "Battle him! You two have never even fought once, have you?"

Serena's face perked up. "Oh yeah, haven't even thought of that," she realized. "Well, now we're doing this whether you want the Ring or not, let's go!"

Imposter saw her reaching for one of the Poké Balls in her bag, and realized it had no choice. It looked to Froakie for encouragement and did the same.

"Go, Meowstic!"

"Ditto!"

Meowstic was a completely new Pokémon to Imposter, and it was immediately impressed by what it could do. With a move called Disarming Voice, it could probably do some damage.

Naturally, it commanded Disarming Voice, but was cut off.

"Meowstic, Fake Out!"

Before Imposter knew what was happening, Meowstic had already pulled off the move. Ditto cringed, allowing Meowstic to follow up with a Psybeam. Ditto was already almost out, and had yet to even do anything.

It Disarming Voiced. In a word, Imposter was disappointed by how much the move did.

Fake Out... That had messed up the battle pretty handily. It knew what to command next.

"Ditto, Fake Out!"

Meowstic seemed to have seen the attack coming, for it was feet away when Ditto tried the move. "Now, Psybeam again, Meowstic," Serena called.

The hit knocked Ditto out. Imposter bit its tongue and sent in another.

"Ditto, Fake Out. Now, Light Screen!"

When these actions were carried out, Serena hummed. "Now you're starting to get it. Meowstic, you put up a Light Screen too."

Meowstic did, then sent out her own Disarming Voice. Ditto took it better than Imposter expected, then sent out a Psybeam.

Meowstic used Psybeam. Ditto fainted.

Imposter's next Ditto used Fake Out, and Meowstic went down.

"'Kay, then. Absol, this is a job for you."

Ditto sent off a Psybeam, which Imposter expected to hurt a lot. It did nothing. Absol Swords Danced.

Afraid, Imposter commanded another Fake Out. Absol did not fall for it, however, and shot off a Quick Attack.

Imposter panicked. It was quickly realizing Serena was no joke. "Disarming Voice, Ditto."

The result was how Imposter first expected the move to go. By now its own ears were hurting.

"That's fine, Absol; it didn't do that much. Bite it."

Ditto fainted scarily quickly.

Two more Ditto. One turned into Absol. The other was Limber.

"Now, Absol, Slash."

"Quick Attack first, Ditto!"

Ditto did, and Absol was looking bushed. Immediately following the attack came Absol's Slash.

It destroyed Ditto's ability to keep going. "Oh, a critical hit, too!" Serena observed. "Nice one, Absol." Sighing, Imposter called it back.

Absol was close to fainting, it figured, although by how much, it was unaware. After him, Imposter just had to defeat two more Pokémon and it would win.

And it would have to do it with Limber.

The small Ditto quaked. "What is that."

"It's an Absol," explained Imposter. "Just Transform into it. Quickly! Go!"

But Limber, whether as a result of its self-doubt or of Absol's superior training by Serena, was not fast enough.

"Slash!" Serena yelled. "Take it out!"

Absol did exactly that. With another critical hit, Absol completely finished off Imposter's team.

"Imposter - I wasn't able to do it. I let you down," Limber complained. "I told you I'm no good at battling."

Imposter withdrew its Poké Ball. "Sure you are," it said. "Serena's just a better trainer than I am, I guess."

It called Limber back and placed the Ball neatly into its bag.

Serena smiled smugly and Absol returned to his Ball. "Guess I win," she observed. "Anyway, good battle, although I think you can try harder. I do have a question, though."

Imposter looked up, curious. "Are you actually, like - able to speak with your Pokémon?"

She received weird looks from the other humans, prompting her to defend herself. "I mean, it's not that hard to believe. Did you hear all that? 'Ditto, Dit-Dit-Ditto', the whole time. Funny how you can't really speak our language, but the language of your Pokemon..."

"The girl has a point," Gurkinn said, to everyone's surprise. "A very prominent figure in the Unova region is said to be able to understand the speech of all Pokémon, although only because he grew up alongside them. It could be this boy has a gift, to be so close to his Ditto that he is able to achieve the same."

The children gawked, and Imposter gave a nervous cry along with a nod. "That - explains a lot," Shauna noted.

"Yeah..." Serena still seemed suspicious. "Anyway, if you really like your Ditto so much, you should learn how to use it better. For example, Fake Out only works if it's the first move you use."

She giggled. "Ditto's a pretty versatile Pokémon. It can become anything and use any move at all. If you want to use one properly, let alone five, you should really know the Pokémon they're Transforming into and the moves they can use. It pays to pay attention, you know? Just a tip."

Imposter thought it had known most of this already, being a Ditto itself, and zoned out near the end. "Wow, how do you know all that?" Trevor asked in awe.

Serena inhaled. "Well, my parents are both really strong trainers," she explained, sounding remiss. "Guess I've just picked things up from Mom."

"Really?" Tierno piped up. "How strong? Trainers don't get much better than you, Serena."

The teen bit her lip. "Really really. Mom's won a few awards back in Hoenn, and Dad... Well, he's a Veteran trainer now, but three years ago, he was the top-notch. Just like I'll be once I've mastered this whole Mega Evolution deal! Right, Korrina?"

The Gym Leader looked Serena in the eyes. "We'll see. Your Pokémon completely destroyed my team, so maybe, as long as you work hard."

Shauna cleared her throat. "So, where is this Mega Ring anyway? I want to see this thing in action already!"

Korrina shrugged, then turned to Serena. "You. Meet me at the top of this tower and we'll proceed with the bestowing there."

"Okay!"

Shauna raised her hand. "Um, question?"

"Yeah?"

"Can, um - can we come watch?"

Korrina looked over the group. "I mean, you all... won... the Rumble Badge. Don't see why any one of you in particular couldn't come."

Her eyes flickered in Imposter's direction.

"Great, come on," offered Serena, who invited Korrina to lead her up the stairs. She and her companions followed.

* * *

The Tower of Mastery's highest balcony overlooked Azure Bay on the left and the bustling Shalour City on the right. Anyone standing there would be at eye level with the lowest cloud layer if they would only jump up a few feet. It was large enough to accommodate the five human teens and four Pokémon that were there, with plenty of extra room.

Imposter and its friends were directed off to the side; they could watch, but not disturb. Serena was singled out, and stepped up to where Korrina was standing in front of one of the Pokémon she had when Imposter had first met her. A quick consultation with the Pokédex confirmed that the species was called Lucario.

"Lady Serena V. W. of Fortree City, Hoenn," Korrina began formally. "It was decided that the place for bestowing the Mega Ring is here, at the very top of this tower."

She stepped closer, withdrawing the small bracelet. Serena's eyes grew in awe.

"Take it. It belongs to you now."

Serena lifted two hands and removed the item from Korrina's hold. She held it up towards the sun, getting a better look.

Then she wasted no time. She slipped the Ring on her right arm, balling a fist to show it off.

"Thank you so much," she breathed. "I'm going to be learning as much as I can, don't you worry."

For the first time in Imposter's memory, Korinna threw her head back and laughed. Much like a crazy person.

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"

Serena's smile disappeared, but the Gym Leader's was more set in than ever. "Of course, it belongs to you forever now, and I won't be taking it if you lose - but now that you can finally power up all the way, there's a person you're going to have to fight."

Now Serena grinned. "You?"

Korrina chuckled. "Oh, it won't be just any battle. Lucario?"

The Pokémon behind Korrina, as per his trainer's request, stepped forwards.

"I've seen the way you handle a certain Pokémon," she began. "This will be a one-on-one match. Me and my Mega Lucario, versus you and your Mega Absol!"

Serena accepted the small stone that Lucario was handing out to her. " M-Mega Absol! Really?"

"Yeah!" Korrina confirmed. "We have no use for the Absolite here, and you most certainly do. Now let's get this show on the road, huh?"

"Alright! Go on, Absol!"

"And you, Lucario - _let's give it all we've got!_ "

Imposter and the others looked (and in some cases, cheered) on as the Pokémon took their places. One hand on each trainer began glowing, and so did the stones the Pokémon were holding.

Imposter had seen that somewhere. Where was it? And with whom? It cursed its awful memory. Someone it knew was capable of Mega Evolution, and it had no idea who.

"Lucario..."

"Absol..."

The two humans finished at the same time.

"... _Mega-Evolve!"_

Imposter and the humans on the sides had to cover their eyes as two blinding Pokémon underwent complete transformations - but not the kind that the Ditto was used to performing. When the light cleared, two completely new Pokémon were standing in ready stance, poised to jump on their orders the moment their trainer gave the command.

"Absol, Swords Dance!"

Imposter had never laid eyes on something more majestic than Mega Absol's display of the move.

"Lucario, Power-Up Punch."

Absol's majesty was cut short by the attack. Serena's mouth hung open. "Woah, are you okay?"

The Pokémon's voice was low and gruff. "Fine," he coughed. Imposter suspected otherwise.

"Good, now... Sllllashhh!"

The Dark-Type lunged forwards. Lucario took the brunt of the attack, spun around, and pounded the opponent with Power-Up Punch.

Absol wheezed, on the ground. Lucario stepped one foot onto his back proudly as the glow from earlier - fainter this time - returned and changed Absol back to normal.

Serena fell to her knees beside her Pokémon. "Absol, he got you, huh?" She sighed, taking out his Poké Ball. "You did well. Come back."

Imposter - along with, it figured, the rest of the humans - was disappointed to see it over so quickly. Lucario glowed and de-Mega-Evolved, respectfully stepping off its quarry.

"Good job, trainer," Korrina remarked. "You may have lost, but you have also just joined the ranks of people capable of Mega Evolution. Champions, royals, Elite Four members, mighty heroes, both of your parents. You have become one of us."

Serena inhaled and exhaled slowly. "That's incredible."

* * *

As evidenced by the past weekend, Imposter's friend Serena was not taking much time in conquering her adventure. Now more ambitious than ever, she had said her goodbyes and flew away on Charizard shortly after gaining the Mega Ring, shouting back her thanks as she did so. The show over, Trevor and Tierno had followed Korrina back inside the tower and away from the site of the battle.

That left Imposter and Froakie lingering while Shauna bent over the side of the balcony, taking in the views.

The Ditto did acknowledge Froakie before doing anything, understanding that he was keeping a close eye on it. It moved closer to the ledge too; ironically, while it was the one who had experience flying, it was also the one feeling uncomfortable about the height.

Shauna breathed in. "You know, it sure is... pretty," she offered. "Um-"

She turned around, but refused to look Imposter in the eyes. "I'm sorry for freaking out back in Parfum Palace that night."

This may have been Imposter's only chance. It reached up to rub its chin, looking straight at her when it said the word. "Ditto."

"I-" she stumbled on the words. "I hope you are." She gave a light chuckle, the awkward kind one gives after revealing a big, embarrassing secret.

"Anyway, uh, yeah. I've really missed you."

So it had heard. It glanced at Froakie for a moment, and nodded in agreement.

"I really hope we're good now... okay? Buds again? G-give me a pound."

A Pound? Imposter did not know that move - only Transform, and it could not give her one of those. She was holding a fist up sideways towards it, but stopped the punch halfway through its course. It flinched at this gesture, confused at why she was now attacking if there really were no hard feelings.

"Come on, don't leave me hanging."

Tentatively, it mirrored her and (checking in with Froakie first) touched its hand to hers. The Water-Type looked like something was on his mind.

"Yeah, was that too hard?"

Imposter offered a tiny smile and a shrug. She shook her head, but was smiling too.

"Well - that's a big relief," she said. "Thank you. For being my friend and all. Um, I should be leaving, though. I've been talking with Korrina before, and she's going to start training me to be a better battler. And could you imagine what she'd do if I didn't show?"

The following chuckle was filled with petrified nervousness. "So really, I should run. Love ya. Bye."

She scurried out of there like a Dwebble that lost its shell in the middle of a Wingull attack. "'Love ya bye'?" Froakie repeated. "This might just be worse than I thought."

"How do you figure?"

Froakie looked around for any humans, then placed himself comfortably on the ground. "Come on down here. Let's chat."

Imposter gave a questioning look, removed its bag, and shrunk down to the shape and size normal for a Ditto. "What-what's happening?" It was almost scared. "Did I do something wrong?"

Froakie shook his head. "Maybe not. You handled that pretty well, actually, I'll admit. You are making sure not to give her any ideas, right?"

"I still don't know what you're talking about."

"What I'm talking about is this. You want to know why it matters to me so much that you don't break that stupid little girl's heart?"

Imposter was unsure if it really did want to know. Its face wobbled slowly upwards and down.

The Water-Type took a deep breath. "My mother was a Ditto." He kept that in the air for a bit.

Imposter was floored. Now self-conscious about its species, it considered Transforming into Froakie now to save itself the embarrassment, but that would lead to more problems. Instead, it spoke. "You... You have Ditto blood in you."

Froakie cringed a little. "I-I guess you could say that," he realized. "Interestingly enough, it was a six-IV-er like yourself. Some weird test Sycamore did says, lucky me, I only ended up with Attack. Yay."

He shook the thought away. "Anyway, they were a Ditto and a Greninja. Never met it, and haven't seen him in a long time. Whatever, we were never really close, but my dad had thought that he'd really liked this Pokémon, and never completely recovered from the fact that it... didn't really care."

Imposter felt itself shrinking as it took this all in, and chose not to stop the sensation. Froakie's words continued to be cryptic to Imposter, but his tone revealed this was a source of conflict for him. "I-I'm really sorry to hear all that."

"I mean, it's not _your_ fault. Unless-"

"I promise, I've never even seen a Greninja."

Froakie giggled. "Well, who knows? You might one day," he suggested, puffing out his chest. "Anyway, I'm not saying like all Ditto know each other, or that you're all the same or sumthin'. But I do know humans love your being able to copy anything. There are these people called breeders-"

He stopped. "Well, that's a conversation for another time. The point is, for a lot of Pokémon, it's not hard to fall into the Ditto trap. Most of 'em seem to get over it, I think - Dad was just a little soft on the inside. That's all. But here you are parading around with humans who don't know any better. So you could see why I'd want to look out for everyone?"

Imposter's mouth straightened and it nodded the best it could without a head.

"Good. Now, you remember none of this, okay? One word outta anyone about how I had a family at Sycamore's and you are the deadest of meats, do you understand?"

It gulped. "Yes."

"Er, good, because I just realized... Are y'all even made of meat? Like how does that work?"

Imposter looked itself over, flattered by Froakie's curiosity. "Well, if by that you mean muscle... we technically have something else. Different material, same function, basically."

Froakie nodded. "In that case, you'd be the deadest of that. By the way, I caught onto your stunt earlier. That was kinda cool. So you really do care about me, huh - random ol' Pidgey?"

Imposter had never anticipated feeling embarrassed for its actions in saving Froakie from those people, but Froakie just had a way of making everything it did seem laughable.

"I mean, of course. Was I just going to let them take you away?"

"That's exactly what you did. You must not have noticed - they'd gotten me last night, while you were off doing your Gym battle. Kept me for hours before Serena found 'em this morning trying to train me up, or something. Turns out they're part of this whole big organization, planning a-"

He froze.

"You'd better grab that Trainer Card and human up. Someone is coming."

"What!?"

It scrambled for its bag and Transformed again. "The girl's done for today," a voice announced from behind it. Korrina. "Now it's your turn."

Imposter spun around, seeing her flipping through a stack of prize money in her hand. "See, this is what your little Hoennite friend bribed me with to throw that Gym battle," she explained. "I'm afraid that badge is null and void until you beat me for real."

Imposter nodded slowly, leaning back; it could see the Gym from where it was standing on the balcony. It pointed.

"No, not in there. You've already beaten my lackeys," Korrina insisted. "If you really want that Gym badge, you're going to battle me right here and now. And there won't be anyone to keep me from pummeling your team into the ground this time."

Imposter reluctantly accepted that this was about to happen; it grabbed a Poké Ball.

 _You are challenged by Leader Korrina!_

 _~End of Part Three~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Let's take a moment just to establish everyone's ages in this, okay? Serena is 16; Trevor/Tierno/Shauna are 15; Sycamore is 25; Diantha is 21. Calem, having started his adventure at 16 three years ago, is 19 now; although not stated in the story, Imposter often gets his height mistaken, however, and itself looks closer to 17 or 18. (Hence the references to its looking taller than most of the adolescents it adventures with.)_

* * *

 **Hehe... I've forgotten how fun it is to create OCs. Have never really done anything with a backstory as extensive as Froakie's, so let me know how I did. That one's always stealing the show and I can't get enough of it. XD Have a nice day!**


	9. Chapter 9

_You are challenged by Leader Korrina!_

Imposter reached back, Ball in hand. Hers was spinning towards it, opening in midair - a tiny but aggressive-looking Hawlucha popped out, just as the Ditto was expecting.

It would have to be smart about this. What was its highest-level? Oh, yeah:

"Go, Limber!"

The Pokémon leapt out. "Imposter!" It called back, "You know, I was thinking - maybe I've been going too hard on myself. This is a battle, right? Now's my chance to really prove I can-"

"Power-Up Punch!"

Hawlucha screamed and released the attack. Limber barely held on long enough to Transform.

"Flying Press," shouted both trainers. The Pokémon moved at the same time, colliding above the trainers' heads. Hawlucha did an aerial flip, showing off just long enough for Limber to throw an uppercut with its wing.

Hawlucha then, recoiling from the hit, thrust a front kick that clipped Limber's face, knocking it backwards to the ground.

The battling Ditto shivered. "Well, never mind all that," it weakly muttered, falling over.

Imposter withdrew its Poké Ball. "It's progress," it argued, calling its friend back. "Get out there, Ditto!"

The next one Transformed immediately. Hawlucha was pounding one fist into its other claw. "Now do a Flying Press," Imposter called.

Ditto moved swiftly, knocking out the Hawlucha. Korrina's eyes grew wide.

"No way..." She shook her head. "Fine. Now it's Machoke's turn."

She sent him out, and the Fighting-Type cracked his knuckles. Imposter had seen this Pokémon before in previous battles, but was not afraid.

It had a supereffective, Type-bolstered, Attack-boosted move on its side, after all. It would be a fool not to break out a couple more Flying Presses and win the battle.

"Alright, now, Ditto. Use Hone Claws."

Imposter, of course, was a fool.

Korrina scoffed as she watched Ditto picking at its digits. "Rock Tomb it, Machoke, and let's be done with this."

Machoke growled, and Ditto continued to stand grooming itself as massive rocks fell all around it, never once actually landing on their target.

Froakie hopped out of the way of one of the boulders. "Where are these things even coming from?"

He was ignored, however. Ditto perked up when Imposter called its name. "Now use... Flying Press."

Korrina and Machoke exchanged worried looks. Ditto ran up, kicked off the ground, and performed an expert nosedive, colliding with Machoke before the opponent could think about getting out of the way.

Korrina bit on her lip; Imposter, on its tongue. "You know, you're starting to push my buttons," she paused to say.

Imposter slouched. "Ditto."

Korrina shook her head and sent out Mienfoo. "F-Fake Out."

Ditto took some damage, but recovered nicely. "Power-Up Punch."

Imposter itself was wowed by its own friend's performance. "Hey, you're doing really good," it observed as Korrina called her defeated team member back.

"I feel flipping unstoppable," Ditto responded, doing a flip.

Korrina sighed, fingering another Ball. "You know, I didn't think it would come down to this," she explained. "...Nor did I want it to. Well, come on out, Lucario."

Lucario, what was...

It landed in a fighting stance, eyes sharp and fearsome. Ah - _that_ was Lucario.

Imposter's next order was on its lips when Korrina and her glowing hand interrupted. "Lucario, do the Mega-Evolving!"

Now it was Imposter and Ditto sharing a look. The former nodded upwards; the latter grinned and took off.

By the time Lucario was done, Imposter had made sure Ditto was nowhere in his sight. Gritting his teeth, Mega Lucario looked around. When he finally turned skywards, he came face to face with Ditto's nasty Flying Press.

The opponent coughed, and Imposter looked to Ditto wondering whether the battle was done. Korrina's face was beginning to confirm it.

 _You defeated Gym Leader Korrina!_

Imposter breathed slowly. Korrina looked down. "Lucario. Return."

Defeated - and by a large margin - Korrina balled her fists. Anger emanated from the Gym Leader. Then, she met Imposter in the eyes.

She took a breath and grinned. "What an epic battle! Thank you!"

Imposter, taken by surprise, wordlessly sent Ditto back to its Poké Ball, without even looking down to do so.

Korrina coughed. "It wasn't even close, actually. I mean, I would have won if that Rock Tomb hit, but I took a risk and it worked out against me. Worse things have happened. You can keep that Rumble Badge; you've finally earned it."

Imposter dug around for its Trainer Card, then ran a finger over the gleaming piece of metal. It offered a smile.

"I mean it. Now, I've gotta go. Grandpa wanted me as soon as the battle was over."

She skated away, leaving Imposter to take in its own accomplishment. Froakie looked around.

"Hey, where'd all those rocks go..?"

* * *

A brief encounter with a Lapras (a rude one, at that) allowed Imposter to register something in its Pokédex with reliable swimming ability that was big enough to continue carrying its bag.

So when the Ditto found itself at a river with no bridge to cross on, it hid behind the nearest tree, cracked its knuckles, and got to work.

Waddling around on flippers until it found the water was not a graceful endeavor, but it made do with minimal snarking from Froakie. "Oh, you try learning how to walk five times a day with the body of a completely different species every time."

Froakie shrugged. "It would probably look hilarious," he admitted.

Imposter turned so its shell was facing him, and he leapt on.

"You good?"

"M-hm."

Imposter turned forwards and started paddling along. "Yeah, it's weird. I can't even feel anything on the top of this shell - it's like I'm wearing clothes again."

Froakie was surprisingly quiet at this. "Froakie, you're going to take advantage of that information and prank me, aren't you?"

He exhaled. "I was about to, but I guess I'm gonna have to hold off until you're not expecting it."

"Can't wait."

Swimming, Imposter was discovering, was very pleasing as a Water-Type. It was inclined to tell Froakie that this was so, but then decided he probably already knew.

Only a couple of swimming trainers gave them any weird looks, then they turned and dove and swam away. The shore was not far, and the Pokémon made it in good time.

Imposter faced its back to the land. "Off."

Once it heard the thump of Froakie's landing, it maneuvered its neck around so that it could grab its bag in its mouth. Once that was securely on shore, it shuffled up itself.

"I don't know how these full-time Lapras deal with this," it admitted. "Swims like a dream, but the sand feels awful on flippers."

Froakie looked like it could not care less. "What's your solution?"

It shrunk down and purpled up. "I'm sure I'll find something. Let's get a move on."

Froakie watched as Imposter grabbed its bag and moved on. "Uh..." He walked along to keep up. "Do you, like - have legs under there?" Imposter gave a confused look. "I mean - how are you moving?"

"Oh. Um-" Imposter was tripping over its own words. "Well, it's hard to explain. Like, put your hand on the ground, and just move it. Across the ground. Pretty much that, I guess, but with all of-" it gestured to itself - "this."

Froakie inspected his companion, then burst out laughing. "Ya know, you're a riot, 'Pasta," he said through tiny tears. "You're right, let's go. You're going ta become the best trainer ever, aren'tcha?"

"Well, not right now," the Ditto admitted. Froakie was already hopping along up the beach, though, and it had no choice but to keep up.

* * *

Froakie was surveying the land. "Drat, lost it again. Dude! 'Pasta! You hear me?"

Imposter shook its head, suppressing a smile as it contained its self-disappointment for enjoying this. The two had come across the small Baa de Mer Ranch, and the sea of resident Skiddo was too adorable for Imposter to resist.

It clopped up to the little Water-Type. It cleared its throat in an attempt to lower its voice before it spoke: "Kid, are you lost?"

Froakie turned to face it. "I'm not. A buddy is though. You seen it around? Short, purple, thinks it's a human?"

"Oh, yeah? That seems like a mighty confusing problem to have."

"You've got no clue. It's always showing off its Transforming to everybody, like we can't use moves ourselves. Even carries around one of them bags people wear, and keeps five more guys just like it inside."

"Hm. Can't say I've seen such a fellow, but I'll sure keep my eyes open."

"Yeah, you should, 'cause when this released little froggy gets his hands on it, it'll be wishing it never ran off and Transformed into a Skiddo just to mess with 'im."

"What gave it away?"

"I had you at 'Kid, are you lost'. If there's one thing you ain't good at changing, it's the vocal chords."

"Makes sense. There are about twenty of us at home, and none of us can change voices. I could be an Aggron; I'd sound just like a Cleffa."

Froakie smirked at this. "Say, where's your stuff? You want it to get stolen?"

"Who would steal from a Skiddo's feed trough?"

" _You hid your friends in a feed trough!?"_

Imposter stepped back, although it was harder as a quadruped. "What's wrong with that?"

Froakie deadpanned and scanned the area. Imposter motioned with its head the direction, and watched as Froakie bounced over.

"Well, you got lucky," he said as Imposter approached. "Doesn't seem to have been damaged too much, nor broken into..."

Imposter lifted it out with its mouth. The shoulder strap, having been gnawed in half by an uncaring Skiddo, fell to the sides in two pitiful strands.

"Well, that needs repairing," Froakie observed. Imposter shook its head.

"We'll figure something out. For now-"

It paused as it studied the purple sky. "I haven't even noticed how late it was getting. What do you think of staying here for the night?"

Froakie shrugged, looking indifferent. "Sleeping on the cold ground with no roof above my head and surrounded by Grass-Types sounds just peachy."

Unable to sense the sarcasm, Imposter made the final decision. "Good. At least we know we're safe in farmers' territory. I dunno about you, but I'm going to turn in."

It folded its legs inward and placed its tired head on the ground, eyes closed and ready to snooze. "What?" Froakie objected. "Just like that? I thought you always slept as Ditto?"

"Not always. When it's comfortable."

Froakie huffed.

Early that morning, before the sun had met the day and it was surrounded by chirping Kricketot, Imposter had woken up - halfway, and just for a second - to feel Froakie leaning up against it, curled into a ball. Imposter returned to sleep wearing a silly grin.

* * *

It was a small hike to Coumarine City, but Imposter was plenty refreshed enough to handle it. After shaking Froakie awake, using a Grass Knot to hold its bag's strap together, and turning human again, it said its goodbyes to the ranch and the Skiddo and marched along, picking at a store of Oran Berries it had received from the farmhands.

Froakie (after swiping some for himself and smearing half of one all over his lips) spotted the town first. Imposter looked up and, in its excitement, gave another shot at running towards its destination, with brief slipups but acceptable progress overall.

It spent most of the day wandering around the nooks and crannies of the small portion of town available to it before the presence of an acquaintance drew its attention.

"Mister Imposter," a dressy young woman called out. The Ditto turned.

Diantha walked up. "Good to see I've gotten it right this time. How is your adventure coming along? You're taking the League challenge, right?"

Imposter could answer one of those questions with a nod, and did so. A smile grew across her lips. "Well, that's nice to hear. Who knows - you may even make it farther than your brother. I'm sure he'd be very - proud."

Yes, he probably would be. To display this opinion, Imposter nodded again and agreed - "Ditto" - between giggles. Diantha made a face.

She looked away, then redirected the conversation. "How many badges do you have?"

Was it three or four? Imposter was unable to remember, so it reached for its Trainer Card and showed her that. "Ah, very nice. You beat Korrina? She's a feisty one. The only member of this League that could have gotten in due to her family lineage, and she refused to take the position without being tested for merit like everyone else. An honorable young woman - she'll go far.

"And, you haven't beaten Ramos yet. I imagine that's your reason for being in Coumarine? To challenge the Gym?"

Now Imposter was confused, and its face showed this. It had explored all of this city up and down, and even with Imposter's horrible memory and navigational skills, it knew that it had never come across such a building.

"Oh, it's in the other half of the city, accessible by monorail. Follow me; I can get you a ride on it for free if you'd like."

So the Ditto walked along until the two came across a building Imposter had largely overlooked before. Diantha led it inside, waved to the attendant, and showed it to a seat next to her in a room much unlike any it had ever been in.

Rows of seats were filled with people, some looking backwards at Diantha and covering their mouths to contain their excitement. Nobody was doing anything, though - there was no battling, and while Froakie's admittance showed that Pokémon were allowed, no one really had any out. Imposter scanned the whole room. Everyone was like this. It was as if they were waiting for something.

Then a large voice spoke out from overhead, alarming the poor Ditto. It could not discern the source no matter how hard it tried, and the words were muffled by electrical feedback. No humans were at all surprised, however.

Suddenly the ground heaved and Imposter grabbed onto the nearest thing it could find - this, due to Froakie's timely dodging of its panicked flailing, was Diantha.

"Would you please-" She restarted. "If you would not so terribly mind, please release me."

Realizing its mistake, Imposter pulled away. Froakie was hysterical. "So, I take it you've never ridden a monorail?"

Imposter, lips clamped, worriedly shook its head.

"Oh. Well, you'll see, it's a short ride. Just hang tight."

Hang tight Imposter did. The sensation was strange - like that of taking a ride in a Poké Ball, but being fully assembled and conscious at the same time. Surrounded by others. So maybe not close to being in a Ball, but the feeling of being moved stayed the same in both cases.

Unable to make its own conversation, Imposter had to rely fully on Diantha to keep the trip from being entirely silent. Fortunately, she provided.

"So Augustine told me you wanted to have an adventure," she summed. "But that doesn't tell me everything. How far do _you_ want to go with this? You must know this already, but the highest title a League challenger like yourself can achieve is that of Kalos League Champion. And naturally, I am the current holder of that title - you'd have to defeat me in order to become Champion yourself. With three badges, I can promise that you're not ready yet, but that's okay."

Imposter was zoning out a bit. It heard someone speaking and decided to nod; that was usually the polite thing to do.

"Well, whatever your decision, I wish you luck. Not too much, of course," she added with a chuckle. "I know that lady friend of yours, Serena, she knows exactly what she wants. With trainers like her walking around, I'd better watch out or else your Champion battle won't be against me!"

To this, she gave a wistful hum. "The adventuring children of Kalos these days have gotten a lot stronger since I first set out, about three years ago. Why, I had just barely won my own battle with the Kalos Champion before me. In fact, Miss Serena almost reminds me of him. They have the same attitudes about strength, that is certain."

The moving room slowly came to a stop. "Well, I'd better leave you to your adventure, then," she concluded as everybody stood up. "Exit the station, take a left, and the Gym will be on a hill just past the Pokémon Center. You couldn't miss it."

Imposter was sure it could, but stood anyway and made its way to the exit. It was still dazed about the concept of human vehicles. It extended a hand to its acquaintance in thanks, and the two parted.

So there was another whole half of Coumarine Imposter had yet to explore. Froakie at its side, it promptly set off.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: _ So Froakie's only a character because he had to be on the team in my playthrough, for use of HM's. Also the reason Imposter carries five Ditto, not six. (In-universe, it is the sixth member.) Ironically, though, the one in my game came out female; and my preferred Kalos starter is Fennekin.

* * *

 **For anyone getting sick of Imposter losing all the time, that battle was for you. ^^ Carpe Diem, folks!**


	10. Chapter 10

"Imposter, I've thought of something!"

It spun around. Serena was running up to it.

"You know, I was feeling pretty bad when I found out I'd be taking the Mega Ring from you. But Imposter! You're using Ditto! If one of them just Transforms into a Mega, then you can use a superpowered Pokémon just like I can."

She discreetly reached backwards, continuing on: "So, battle me! I'll decide to use my Mega Absol and you can get to see what it's like, too."

Imposter had no qualms - this would be a good time to prove it could win after their last battle. It tossed out a Ditto, and she sent out Meowstic, who immediately used Fake Out.

Trying to think smart, Imposter remembered the kinds of moves Meowstic could use, and realized it could defend against these.

Ditto put up a Light Screen, and Serena's Pokémon followed its lead. From there, the two exchanged Psychics and Dazzling Gleams, the trainers occasionally using items to heal, until Meowstic failed to be able to stay up.

"Alright, then - as promised, here's good ol' Absol! You can duplicate him, but that doesn't mean we'll be going easy on you. Go get 'im, boy!"

Absol leapt from his Poké Ball with his Mega Stone already glowing. The rock was located on a headband wrapped around his forehead like an ivy wreath; the Absolite itself rested on a sliver of blue skin in the center.

Imposter watched in awe as Serena hoisted her Mega Ring into the air and the two radiated multicolored light. Wings sprouted from Absol's back and his one large horn curved into a larger scythe. The Pokémon was looking absolutely unbeatable.

This caused poor Ditto to panic: " _Oh my goodness what was that that just happened!?"_

Or, in battling terms: _Ditto used Disarming Voice!_

Absol took the Fairy-Type attack well enough, and returned with a Slash - critical, as always. Imposter shook its head as it called back the first of its fainted battlers.

When the next Ditto Transformed, Imposter's amused grin was rivaled tenfold by Serena's bright smile. "There you go! Now you can use a Mega, too, sort of. Absol, go for another Sl-"

"Quick Attack."

"-Well, okay, that's fine," Serena restarted when Ditto's move interrupted her. " _Now,_ Absol, use Slash."

He did, Ditto mirroring him directly afterwards, and he finished it off with another Quick Attack. A rotation of Ditto occurred, it Transformed, and it Slashed. Imposter now wielded the remaining Mega Absol, and Serena reluctantly called back her own.

"Heh, this is... embarrassing. Anyway, the fight's not over yet! It's Amaura time!"

A quadrupedal Pokémon that reminded Imposter of Grant's Gym yelled a battle cry as he entered the field.

Imposter looked at Serena quizzically. Her choice in Pokémon made no sense. He was much smaller than Ditto.

She shrugged. "Amaura resists the hits. He's slow, but I want him to get some nice training in."

Imposter nodded, and using this information, determined the smartest choice to be to use Swords Dance.

(It also just wanted to see a Mega Absol use Swords Dance again - or even better, it wanted to Transform and use the move itself, but that would have been a dead giveaway.)

"Plus," Serena continued, sharing determined looks with her Pokémon. "...Amaura can also do this! Hidden Power!"

The small Rock-Type spun around and blasted Ditto with a beam of concentrated energy - unlike Aurora Beam, the move Grant's used, this one was huge and seemed to require utmost concentration from its user. Shocked at the damage, Imposter could only watch as its unprepared friend fainted before its eyes.

This Pokémon was tough. There was only one Ditto for a job like this.

"Do it, Limber!"

"I'll try!" It said this unsurely, but Imposter liked hearing the sentiment.

"Transform."

To Imposter's amusement, Limber was able to do so before Amaura could move. The smaller Ditto did take note of this once the process was done: "Hey, did I-? Awesome... I'm going to finally-"

Serena coughed. "Hidden Power, again."

Amaura did it again.

"Ooooowwwww!" Limber whined, devouring the attack. "What move _is_ that?"

Unfortunately, it was powerful enough to remove Limber from the battle in one hit. Imposter stood there, floored.

Serena explained. "It's a Fighting-Type Hidden Power. Super strong against Absol's Dark, Ditto's Normal, and both Amaura's Rock and Ice."

So Serena was unstoppable, then - at least, that was what Imposter understood from the explanation. That, and a little inspiration for its last Ditto's first move.

"Hidden Power!"

Amaura absorbed the attack like a champ. Imposter's jaw hung down, revealing to anyone who would have looked close enough the beginnings of a shoddily-crafted digestive system; pictures were enough for it to work with in replicating outward appearances, but it had to rely on muscle memory and improvisation for absent subjects' innards.

The question remained as to why Amaura did not faint to the move, however; this Serena was able to explain as well, between bursts of laughter.

"Imposter, hah - Hidden Power's typing changes depending on the Pokémon, you know. It's based on the user's own personal statistics. Your Ditto may be able to copy most of Amaura's, but not the one that counts for health; such a discrepancy can change - for example - a Fighting-Type Hidden Power to a..."

She placed a hand to her chin. "...To a Flying-Type one."

Imposter was lost, and all it understood was that this battle was about to be as well.

"Anyway, it's funny how that worked out, but we've got to end it now. Hidden Power, one more time."

Amaura did, and Imposter blinked as the attack came and went. Its last Pokémon was knocked out, and Serena still had most of her team left.

"Well," Serena started, laughing awkwardly. "Good game."

Imposter returned Ditto to its Poké Ball without making a sound.

"Hey, you didn't do so bad. You did get to use a Mega-Evolved Pokémon - even took out my own with it! That counts for something. Right?"

Imposter shrugged.

"Well, consider this, also - how many badges do you have again?"

Remembering from when Diantha asked it this question, it held up three fingers. "See, that's the problem. I've just done more training than you, that's all - and I've got a total of five to prove it."

She reached up to put a reassuring hand on its shoulder. "Don't you worry. You'll get there if you really want it - and you can start by destroying the man at the heart of that building there!"

She pointed to the nearest building, then added quietly, "That's the Gym."

Imposter nodded; it may as well do that. It started walking forwards to begin this endeavor, but was quickly stopped.

"Hey, you've got a team full of fainted Pokémon on you! I've found a lot of extra Revives with my Dowsing Machine; let me heal your team up first. It's on me - consider it an apology for beating you that hard."

She was quick about it, then said she would be on her way. Imposter was fine with that. It had somewhere to be, too, apparently.

* * *

After a bout or so of unnecessary stalling, Imposter wandered into the Gym.

That is, it thought it was the Gym. Walking in, it realized the place might have been a forest. Or a Safari Zone.

As a shapeshifting creature with unimpressive size in its normal form and the power to spontaneously generate enough mass to become a Wailord, Imposter was unconcerned with how people had fit an entire towering tree in the middle of a building that was not that tall on the outside. It was more surprised by how such an organism could develop in such a building, with such a lack of sunlight.

Nonetheless, it continued onwards, approaching the tree in the center. An arrow inscripted on the bark pointed out a singular vine hanging down, leading up to one of many platforms protruding from the plant.

Imposter was usually content experimenting with different species of Pokémon for forms to take, but now it was curious to experience whatever this tree was.

Later, though; now, it had a Gym to progress through. The logical thing to do would be to climb up the vine and onto the platform, like the arrow showed.

What Imposter did was swat at it like a Meowth until it got bored and asked Froakie what he wanted for lunch.

("A Starf Berry," was his response. Imposter, not sensing the sarcasm, knew it could not supply one, and decided that instead of telling Froakie this and letting him down, a better option would be to say nothing and pretend it did not even offer.)

It was then that Imposter decided that climbing the vine might be a productive idea.

It was not easy, but once the Ditto got a good hold, shuffling up the plant went surprisingly quickly. It was reminded of Viola's Gym, in fact - it kept proceeding, climbing upwards and battling trainers, followed by a bored-looking Froakie the whole time. Imposter considered this to be a fine day.

One trainer near the top of the tree looked different from the rest - older, if Imposter were to judge by his posture and wrinkly face. A quick checkup on the team and the Ditto was ready to battle.

The human gave a little speech before any combat started, but Imposter had to strain its ears in order to make out the meaning. His voice was quiet; slow; shaky - nothing like those of the adolescents and younger adults it was used to.

The old man paused for a moment. Thinking he was done, Imposter reached for its first Poké Ball and sent a Ditto out.

The trainer's eyebrows rose. "Now, challenger," or something similar, Imposter was able to discern. "Patience... old Ramos here did not become a Gym Leader by rushing into all his important battles."

With that said, Ramos sent out his Jumpluff.

 _You are challenged by Leader Ramos!_

The round Grass-Type was fast - he floated towards the shapeshifting Ditto and launched himself forwards in an Acrobatics attack.

Ditto fainted easily to the move, and Imposter calmly switched out another one. Imposter had been learning since its series of battles with Korrina; when the opponent uses a strong move on a Ditto, Ditto can return with the same move to give most of the damage right back.

"Acrobatics, Ditto."

"Jumpluff, Akcerbaticks."

Jumpluff got lucky and moved first again, but this Ditto had a bit more stamina than the last. It stayed in and pulled off another, but Ramos's Pokémon was not as easy to defeat as Imposter had thought. One more should do the trick, but then, that was only if it could-

"Once mer."

The second Ditto fainted to this Jumpluff, and Imposter was beginning to worry.

The third came in, Transformed, and moved first - Jumpluff was down for the count.

"Excellent work, my friend," spoke the Leader to the Poké Ball containing his fallen battler. He retrieved another. "Yer next."

The Pokémon he was referring to was called Weepinbell, and its appearance amused Imposter. Regardless of the opponent, though, it now understood that Acrobatics was a strong move, and saw no reason not to continue commanding it.

Weepinbell looked hurt by the move, but not nearly as much as Imposter was expecting. Actually, it was unsure if 'hurt' was an accurate way of describing him. 'Dizzy' would be more appropriate.

"Gee, tough move," it heard the Pokémon in question mumble. "Think I'm feeling a li'l sick..."

 _Weepinbell was right!  
_ _Weepinbell used Gastro Acid!  
_ _Ditto's Ability was suppressed!_

Ditto turned uncomfortably to its friend. "Now that was nasty. I tell you, you've gotta try out battling for yourself sometime, buddy... It's quite the..."

Weepinbell blinked slowly, one eye at a time, causing both Ditto to cringe.

"...Experience."

"Hey, Ditto?"

"Yeah, Imposter?"

"Take that Pokémon out right now and there's a Hyper Potion with your name on it."

"Oh, boy! Gladly!"

 _Ditto used Acrobatics!  
_ _It's super effective!  
_ _A critical hit!  
_ _The opposing Weepinbell fainted!_

Ramos breathed slowly, while Imposter stood with Ditto at the ready for their opponent's last Pokémon.

It was something Imposter had never seen before, but recognized from its experience on the farm last night; similar in appearance to Skiddo, this Pokémon - Gogoat, Ramos called him - was the large, intimidating ending to a Gym battle that Imposter should have been prepared to encounter this far in its adventure.

After taking Ditto's last attack, Gogoat burst out a Take Down, knocking it out.

Imposter was biting its tongue again, it realized, which was painful. For this reason, it decided to stop.

It had two Ditto left; it decided against using Limber this time and sent out the other one. Having experience in the Skiddo-Gogoat evolution family, it knew by the strap of its bag that Grass Knot was a good move, and decided to go for one of those.

Gogoat shook it off, however. He charged up and used Take Down again, dealing some damage to Ditto but nothing Imposter was worried about yet.

So Take Down was a better choice than Grass Knot, then; maybe when the battle was over it would do some Transforming and refix its bag with that instead. But for now, it would have to settle for using it in battle.

Gogoat cringed taking the move, and Imposter ordered another one. So did Ramos; with this last hit, Ditto was taken out.

Just Limber was left. It would have to be the one to finish this.

"Transform."

"Gres Knot."

Gogoat moved in quickly, but Limber still had plenty of energy to go once it was fully Transformed. "Now, use Take Down."

Imposter watched as Limber invested a second to breathe, then went in for the knockout. Gogoat went down panting.

 _You defeated Leader Ramos!_

Ramos, having lost, called back his last Pokémon. "Say, yeh've did it," he observed. "Yeh best give yer Pokémon a big ol' thank ye fer what they've done teh get yeh this far."

Imposter bent down, and Limber looked up. "Hear that?" Imposter asked. "He's right. You just won me this battle. How does that make you feel?"

Limber blinked. "I did? I mean, I just used the last move. Credit for the win should go to everyone involved. Not just me."

Imposter shook its head with a grin. "You're right, but that includes you. Listen, I'll talk with you more later, but the longer I sit here making weird sounds at my Pokémon the crazier this human is going to think I am."

Limber nodded in understanding. "I'll just come back for now, then."

"Good idea."

It did, and Imposter stood up again. "Now that yeh're finished," Ramos concluded, "I must present to ye the Plant Badge!"

He handed over the small piece of metal, which Imposter graciously accepted - albeit with a questioning look.

"I know it ain't sech a creative name, but Forrest was already taken. Just be glad it's not just the name of the Type, like that lass Viola. Or Valerie or Olympia, but I guess yeh'll have to put up with that when yeh battle them."

Imposter stood there silently for a few more seconds. "I'm done, yeh know. Yeh can get teh the entrance down this slide jest to yer right."

Imposter looked, saw this, and left wordlessly.

* * *

After its team was fully healed and that one Ditto it had promised a Hyper Potion to had received its reward, Imposter found a private area at the top of a Coumarine cliff and withdrew Limber's Ultra Ball.

Night had settled over the city by now, and looking out, Imposter was straining even its well-focused human eyes trying to discern where Azure Bay ended and where the dark navy sky, littered with stars, began. The mood was quiet, but happy - Imposter was reminded of something it thought Shauna might enjoy.

It was politely waiting for something easy - this ended up being a Chatot - to appear. Then, stashing its bag as usual, it invited its friend out.

Limber opened its mouth to say something, but Imposter interrupted by pointing out the nearby Flying-Type. It took the lead: with no humans around, it was free to show off by Transforming right from a human to the Pokémon in the span of half a second.

It knew Limber got the message when it saw it trying to do the same. Grunting, Limber squinted as the Chatot poised itself for takeoff, out of sight.

Grace and fellow Ditto alike had both been there to help when Imposter was honing its Transforming skills, and it felt an obligation to help its friend in the same way. Using its wings the way a human would hands (forgetting in the process that the different kinds of limbs moved different ways), it molded Limber's body into the aerodynamic shape many Flying-Types shared. Holding itself up for closer inspection seemed to help it along as well, and Limber was finished by the time Chatot was gone.

"Anyway, you wanted to talk to me," Limber reminded Imposter. "What about?"

"What else? What was the whole point of me bringing you along?"

Limber scoffed. "Because I'm your best friend and you'd go crazy leaving me home for so long."

"Regardless of whether or not that's true," Imposter dodged, "I'm talking about what happened today. You helped me beat a Gym Leader!"

"Helped."

"Well... Aren't you proud of yourself?"

"I'm proud of _you_ ," Limber corrected. "You beat the Gym Leader. I was just doing what you told me."

"But you were able to."

"I'm usually not."

"I don't think that's true."

Limber looked away, squeezing its eyes shut. Then, turning so that Imposter count the stars reflected off those beady Ditto eyes (there were seven), it continued. "My problem is, no matter how good I can get at Transforming - Ditto like you and the rest of the party will always be able to do it that much better."

Imposter gulped; it knew Limber was not wrong. "Well, whatever, but here's the point. You know there's more to life than just battling."

"Yeah, but more than Transforming? To a Ditto? Pshaw-"

"Listen. Limber. I'm gonna be honest-"

It straightened itself, instinctively preening its feathers before continuing. "There's little more I love in this world than Transforming into something amazing. You know why? Because just like you, there's not much I can do as a Ditto. I just have a lot of experience doing it because I love it so much. That's what most of it is, I think. Sure, me and the team can be considered 'naturals', but genetically speaking, we just got lucky. Stay on this adventure with me - you'll see what a little practice can do."

"That all sounds really wise for someone who spent an hour smacking a climbing vine."

Imposter was quiet. "Do... Do you know why Grace named you Limber?"

"So I never forget the Ability I've been so graciously blessed with?"

"Because of all the Ditto she had with that Ability, she wanted to remember that you were the best," Imposter revealed. "That if she wanted to battle using one with Limber, she should use you. And why I'm named Imposter?"

Limber blushed. "...Because you're that much better?"

"Because I'm always turning into humans. Whenever she saw a Calem walking around, it could be her son, or it could be just an imposter."

Limber looked down; "Did she really tell you all this?"

"She - I picked these things up here and there. Um... You might want to check your wing."

Limber picked up its wing, which to its horror had been turning purple again and embarrassingly dripping off in small amounts.

"Hey-" Imposter reminded it. "Like I said: practice."

Limber laughed a bit at this, collecting the detached pieces of itself and deforming over them for reattachment. "Ah, thanks for saying all that. But boy, am I bushed. Can we get some sleep?"

Imposter followed its lead. "Sure can. You hop in that Ball of yours, I'll take care of where we'll be staying tonight."

"You're the best," Limber admitted, glowing red and retreating away.

Imposter looked around. "You can come out now, Froakie," it shouted.

The Water-Type appeared from the woodsy area that Imposter sent him to explore, munching on seeds he probably found on the ground somewhere. "The nearest hotel is far from here, I think," it said. "But this place is pretty secluded. What say you on roughing it one more night?"

Froakie slouched. "Again with sleeping on the ground? My neck still hurts from last night!"

"I'll let you sleep in a tree."

"Sign me up! Nighty, 'Pasta!"

He scurried up the nearest one, leaving Imposter to chuckle to itself. It slid over to its bag and returned to its own Ball, confident that everything would be fine in the morning.

 _~End of Part Four~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _Ah, Ramos, the most forgettable Gym Leader in the franchise, in my opinion. Except that now I remember him for being so forgettable. Just like I do with Maractus. He should use a Maractus._


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay! Hello! Hi. Just popping in to let you guys know that what you're about to read is one of the most important chapters in this story. You're going to be meeting some new people. Maybe in a light you aren't used to. I mean, this is a Team Flare chapter, and when I say Team Flare chapters are some of the best, I mean... well, just give it a read, and again, keep your mind open.**

* * *

It did not come as a surprise to Imposter that everything was fine in the morning. Froakie had woken up first this time, but to its pleasure, had let it stay asleep.

"Hey, how was the tree?" It blinked its tiny, tired eyes.

Froakie scoffed. "...Tree-like..." he answered. Imposter figured that was probably so.

"Sounds good. So we haven't even really seen this half of Coumarine yet, have we? Wanna hit the town?"

Froakie looked up. "What's there to hit in a small town like this? You already did the Gym and the monorail. And the Center. Only thing left to do is barge into strangers' houses and take their items."

"That doesn't sound..."

"I know. Eh, it's just something trainers do. Point is, there is no point in staying here. It's either keep going forward or linger around here for four hours staring at one random tree the whole time."

It would not be difficult to guess which one Imposter decided on. Fascinatingly, the plant housed a family of Pachirisu.

* * *

When Imposter finally did get a move on, it was taken aback by the stark geological difference between the green Coumarine City and the desert of Route Thirteen. This did not bother it, however, save for the constant sand and wind whipping themselves into its eyes. Its hair felt funny, too, as if it was moving - on its own. It pulled its cap down to try to minimize this feeling; it was weird.

The earth was tough beneath Imposter's feet, heavily trodden and torn up by traveling Ground-Types. Running was hard with the wind trying to knock it over, but walking would hardly amount to any progress, for the same reason.

So Imposter tripped along, much to Froakie's amusement. Eventually it tripped over a weird but familiar-looking human.

"Now, listen, guy!" This person was shouting. "Watch where you're going! It's not like there isn't enough space in this huge desert, why you gotta stand right where _I'm_ standing?"

Imposter's eyes widened at his rudeness. If it could see through the man's heavy red glasses, it may have seen his eyes soften.

"Eh, whatever. Just be on your way. You don't have any business interfering with Team Flare."

He reached back for a Poké Ball, and Imposter anticipated a battle. The challenge was interrupted, however, by a voice appearing behind the two.

"Hey, hold it!"

Imposter had never seen them before, but two trainers had ran up behind it: one of each human gender, both wearing all white. The male turned to face Imposter.

"Is this criminal giving you a problem?"

Imposter was unsure - it could have been a problem, but the battle had not started yet. Maybe it could have handled it. It just decided to nod.

His partner piped in. "That's messed up, sweetie," she informed the red-suited man. "Now, we could let you off easy, if you'd just leave. Go tell your admins that we're coming, and they'd better run!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am," he stuttered. He sprinted in the other direction, towards a small building into which he disappeared.

The two trainers met Imposter eye-to-eye, which it was not used to - it was usually taller than the humans it interacted with. The male adjusted his own sunglasses. "Are you okay?"

Imposter nodded dumbly.

"Thank goodness," the female added. "Team Flare is a group of useless thugs set out on stealing people's Pokémon for money. You ought to be careful around them."

It kept nodding, but failed to understand. What was this about humans being useless? Why would they do such insensible things?

"Anyway, sorry for not introducing ourselves earlier," said the first. "I'm Dexio. To my right here is-"

"Sina! A stylish name for a stylish lady, of course!"

"...Yeah. We're a couple of trainers who've been in pursuit of Team Flare for a while. They're usually not hard to beat, but you can't be too careful, you know."

Nod nod.

Sina ran a hand through her purple hair. "Anyway, we've located their activity hub, as of recently, to be in the Lumiose Power Plant over here. You look like a pretty good trainer, huh? How many badges you have?"

It showed them.

"Four. Impressive! You're halfway there, then!" Dexio observed. Sina agreed.

"That's great; we could really use some backup, and it looks like you're lost, so..."

"What Sina's trying to say is, if you come in here and help us out with these guys, we can help you out of these badlands and safe into Lumiose."

"What do you say?"

Imposter shrugged - it had no reason to help, but then, it had no reason not to. More nods signified its agreement.

"That's epic. Follow us," Sina demanded, already walking away. Dexio shared a look with Imposter and lifted his shoulders, then turned to follow.

"They seem to be rerouting the power from the plant," Sina explained as the trio entered. "We think that's why Lumiose has been having that blackout recently. As you know, this is a big problem, because when cities lose power nobody is allowed in until it's fixed."

"Yeah, weird rule," agreed Dexio. "Remember Sunnyshore in Sinnoh? Those were the times!"

"And Po Town in Alola..." Sina smiled, yet was shaking her head at the same time. Imposter was understanding none of their babbling, and decided to keep quiet.

That is, until Sina decided to pry. "So, Imposter-" She coughed over its name after receiving a harsh glance from Dexio. "I mean, you're a trainer, too. You have to have had some funny experiences. Troubling situations. Spill! I'm always interested in other people's journeys."

Dexio looked it up and down. "Yeah, he added. "What's your story?"

Imposter would have loved to tell them all about how it met Froakie, got its badges, and ended up here, but the problem was as simple as it was impossible: it lacked sufficient vocal ability.

So it shook its head.

"What do you mean? You've done nothing to get this far?"

"Oh, I get it, you're one of _those_ trainers," Dexio laughed.

"You mean the silent protagonist type?"

"What? No! I meant the one who saunters through their adventure saying they're the best and aren't even trying!"

"Well, whatever it is, I think we should get a move on."

With his response, Dexio's steely eyes flickered, underneath their aviators, towards Imposter. "Ditto," he agreed.

Sina turned sharply, before the Pokémon could react. "Aren't we supposed to be looking for Team Flare? They'll probably find _us_ soon," she reminded everyone. "The main generator is down this hallway. Let's go, guys."

Imposter thought not to question how Sina knew the layout of the plant, as this knowledge was more important to it as a convenience than as a mystery. It followed the two along, checking in quickly with Froakie to make sure that he was both present and ready to deal with these humans.

Regardless of whether Froakie was ready (he was: "Any time, any place, they mess with us, I spit in their face"), Imposter would never have been prepared for the number of grunts that awaited them.

It was a sea, but Sina had a plan. "You go ahead, Imposter! We'll take care of these guys!"

The Ditto never looked back and barely noticed how all the grunts seemed to just let it through.

It stepped up to the generator, one hand already clutching a Ball. Huge electrical wires hooked up to the machine were brimming with energy. A thumping noise sounded as the generator rocked back and forth. One woman was standing with her back to Imposter when it appeared.

"And who might you be?" She turned around, and Imposter was able to get a good look at her outfit.

It was no less gaudy or pompous than those of her grunts, nor less red. Like Sina and Dexio, she wore eyewear, but Imposter could not discern the purpose of this piece; it looked more like a machine than a human's accessory.

"Don't answer me, then, that's fine, too. Well, you aren't wearing Team Flare's stylish outfit, so you must be an intruder, huh? Or, an infiltrator, or an invader... or an imposter! Either way, I - Team Flare Scientist Aliana - was tasked to take you out, trespasser, and that's exactly what I'll be doing!"

She pulled out a single Poké Ball, and - always ready for a battle - so did Imposter.

A Mightyena leapt out: yet another creature foreign to it. It did not care. Ditto Transformed into her, and the battle started.

Both Pokémon Intimidated each other, starting the battle on equally weakened grounds.

Scary Face - that would make Ditto faster by comparison, without having to worry. So Ditto used that.

Mightyena crouched, then let out a Roar. Another Ditto switched in - unfortunately nullifying the Scary Face, but draining Mightyena's strength even more.

"Now, Swagger," called Aliana. Like it did many things, Imposter failed to understand exactly what Mightyena was doing, but it did recognize Confusion in Ditto's face.

"Use Assurance," it decided anyway. Mightyena bent from the hit, but stood up and returned the move as per her trainer's orders.

The two - with slipups here and there from the dizzy Ditto - exchanged attacks until Imposter's Pokémon was knocked out.

Mightyena could hardly touch the next one, due to her Intimidated state. Imposter was relentless, cueing attack after attack, while Aliana vainly attempted the same.

Mightyena fell, and Imposter lifted Ditto's Ball. For the first time, it had been serious about teaching a human a lesson, disgusted by the information it had received about their antics.

It stared down at the Ball. There was something going on here that it did not understand, but Imposter knew enough to dislike it. And all it had to stop it were the Pokémon in these balls.

"So, you're a strong Pokémon - trainer, that is. Oh, no! It seems I have been defeated! Your scientist needs backup, you filthy grunts! Call the admins!"

She dramatically cupped her mouth as she cried out, and suddenly Imposter was surrounded by a string of grunts. It could take them, it was sure - Sina and Dexio said they were weak. It knew from experience that regardless of their Pokémon's strength, the grunts could be stopped easily just by messing with their hairdos.

It stood poised and ready for more, but none of the grunts went to battle it. They must have been cowards, then.

The couple in front of Imposter parted, and from behind them emerged two completely new humans, white-clad, donning brightly-colored Team Flare masks and long, flowing scarves. So these were the admins.

"Miss Aliana, we've come," said the first.

His partner lightly touched her dark purple hair. "Is this the human that was giving you trouble?"

Aliana nodded, exaggerating pity. "Stop him!"

"Will do," the blonde and fair one replied. In his right hand, draped in a stark blue glove, he grabbed a Poké Ball; and in his left, the red-clad hand of his comrade.

"We are the Masked Villains of Team Flare!" The two declared in unison, "Fear us, for there is no telling where we lurk, what we know, and what we are capable of! Surrender or brace yourself for the fight of your life!"

Now that Imposter was paying attention to the intensity of the situation around it, its body was feeling sensory overload. Perhaps it had already met too many new people today.

Imposter's legs shook and it felt its feet sinking into purple goo. But it had to battle.

It shakily reached backwards for a Ditto's Ball, and Froakie must have sensed its fear.

"Dude, 'Pasta, you feeling okay? You're turning a little pale, not to mention your feet-"

Its feet was right: they were the first to go. Glares from beneath the red and blue masks in front of it penetrated its mind, and it felt itself crumbling.

"'Pasta! Hey, keep it together, man!"

But the disguise was too tough to keep up, and there was no way to make it out surrounded by all these people.

And its own Poké Ball was looking very cozy right now.

"Imposter, deform at once," spoke Team Flare's scientist. "We have you surrounded. You'll be taken in shortly for research: our leader wan..."

All noise became muffled as it collapsed, taking on a red hue and retreating into energy.

 _Imposter fainted!_

* * *

Here it was again, floating about in an equilibrium of energy and matter. Where all was calm, noise was suppressed, and time flowed in and out without a care.

In an environment such as this, why was Imposter's tiny heart thumping so hard?

There was no way to find out, so Imposter accepted that and stopped paying attention. All it felt, all it heard, all it knew was that beating, the feeling of exertion when nothing was moving.

Imposter would have been afraid if it was in any way aware of this. It faded in and out of thought for a while.

Eventually it felt an opening: someone had poked the button on its Ball and it was being invited out.

Exhausted as it was, it knew right enough to follow through. Materializing was easy, but as for what lay ahead, it had no idea, no plan.

It had to blink a couple times to discern its surroundings; it was back in the desert. Route Thirteen. Surrounded by two rock walls, and little else. As far as it could see, no humans were around.

Froakie was, however, and he looked like he was panting. "You. Tell me your name."

"Imposter?" It was not questioning its own identity as much as Froakie's ignorance of it.

The Water-Type looked skeptical. "Who's your trainer?"

"...Grace of Vaniville Town..."

His brow furrowed even more.

"...Myself, actually. I'm - my own trainer."

Its friend heaved a sigh of relief. "I chose the right one," he gasped, lowering himself in shock. "The right one! Oh, 'Pasta, I'm so glad to see you!"

"You-You saw me just a few minutes ago, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but-" He stopped. Imposter looked around.

"Hey, where's - where are-"

"Listen, I'm going to tell you what happened," Froakie interrupted. He felt around Imposter, and placed his forelegs where the Ditto's shoulders would have been. "You aren't going to like it."

Considering that its bag and the party of Ditto inside it were nowhere to be found, Imposter figured that would be true. Even it was able to realize that whatever happened, it had to be bad.

Froakie inhaled deeply. "So, I don't know where they are."

"You don't mean-"

"I do mean. I-I'm sorry, but I'm just a little froggy and I couldn't carry your bag. There was only a few seconds - I hardly had time to pick a Ball and leap on out of there, hoping it was you I'd nabbed. They probably have the others by now."

Imposter performed the Ditto equivalent of sitting down. "Gosh. I - well, thanks for saving me, at least. It was _crazy_ in there. I didn't know what was happening - maybe I'd just been Transformed for too long, but with all those people... there was no keeping it up."

Froakie shook his head. "Can't say I understand, 'cause I've never been anything but moi," he explained. "Anyway, consider it getting even for Shalour City. That's one time each we've saved each other from those baboons. You sure you're all right now?"

"I think. But the team... Limber... we've gotta get them ba-"

Imposter's heat skipped and dropped into its stomach.

"My Trainer Card," it wheezed. "The Pokédex. I can't Transform into anything until we get them back."

Froakie was quiet. "Well - perhaps it's for the better. Whole thing seems to be really wearing you out."

Now Imposter was the one panting. "But how are we - the humans - if I could just shift I could get Serena's help - and these Team Flare people! They have an army! Serena can handle them, I'm sure, plus Sina and Dexio seem reliable, but weaker trainers like Shauna... Fennekin might be in trouble."

Froakie rolled his eyes. "If that's the case, Fennekin has what's coming to her. Anyway, Sina and Dexio? You saw what happened in there. They - you really didn't see the resemblance?"

Resemblance, what did that mean? "What are you talking about?"

"I mean... Man, we're in some deep trouble, aren't we?"

"Knee-deep."

"...You don't even _have_ -"

Froakie stopped when a shadow befell the two Pokémon, and they looked up to the face of yet another new human. Froakie lept back.

He was tall - more so than Imposter would be as a person, it figured. The Ditto could tell, as an expert in bodily evaluation, that he was built even better than he was dressed. Off of his suit flared the biggest collar Imposter had ever seen on a human, and the whole show was topped with shaggy green hair.

Imposter studied his face as he reached down - those features were well-aged and strangely familiar. The human was now clutching its Premier Ball, but his eyes never left the two.

His voice was scruffy. "Whose?"

It took a moment to register, then Froakie threw a finger at Imposter.

He flipped the Ball upside-down, inspecting it, and Imposter wondered if it should be feeling self-conscious. "0-2-9-5-2," the human read. "Same ID as all the others..."

He bent down all the way to make better eye contact with the Pokémon. "Tell me," he started. "Do you know the trainer named Imposter?"

The two nodded profusely.

"Hm." The human ducked out of sight and reappeared holding its tattered bag. "This should look familiar, then."

Imposter was overjoyed, stretching itself tall and bouncing back. It repeatedly cried out in relief. Froakie seemed just as excited.

"I found some criminals rooting through it and knew it didn't belong to them. Can't promise they returned everything, but it seems pretty full. Was this strap always broken?"

Imposter looked, and its Grass Knot had been removed. "Anyway, I'm sorry to say it, but your trainer wasn't there and I've heard no word of him. At least you have your friends here now, though; I imagine meeting up with party members must be like a family reunion, huh?"

He stood back up, facing away. "Speaking of which, I do want to help you find your trainer, but I really need to be there for my own family. Say..."

He reached into his vest and pulled out an empty Poké Ball and a marker. After jotting something down on it, he placed the capsule in front of the two small Pokémon.

"That ought to be worth something now. When you find Imposter, give that to him. If something serious happened, that should help pay for it.

"I feel bad for leaving, but this must be where we part. Farewell - or, as they say in this region - au revoir."

Imposter was stunned as it watched him stroll away. "Froakie, who was that?"

"Oh, you don't know him?" He was wearing that sneaky face again. "He's the secret ninth Gym Leader of the Sinnoh Region, everybody knows that."

"What?"

"Not really," admitted Froakie. "I actually have no idea who he is. What did he write on that Poké Ball?"

The two turned it so that the sun fell on the heavy black marks. "Oh, I think I know what this is," Froakie decided. "Sycamore explained the whole thing once. Don't know why people do it, or what it means, but sometimes they'll just write their name on stuff. Makes it really special, valuable, legally-binding - something like that."

"You think that's what it is?"

"Well, he also said that they're usually done pretty sloppy, and this _definitely_ qualifies."

"Oh. Well, can you read it?"

"Can you?"

"I don't know how."

"Well..." Froakie rubbed his chin. "I think I've picked up a few things here and there; some letters, at least... Let's see."

He turned the Ball over, picked it up, sniffed it, licked it, grimaced at the taste, set it back down, and put his forelegs to his hips.

"Only the initials are really visible," he concluded.

"Ah." Seconds passed. "Can you tell me what they are?"

"Oh, sure; think so, at least. A 'V' and a 'W', if I'm right. I probably am, but I could be wrong, so no promises."

"VW, then," summed Imposter. "We should remember that."

"What we should do is put this away and make sure everyone's here," Froakie suggested, taking it upon himself to begin. "We are supposed to have five, right?"

"Y-Yeah. The Pokédex in there?" Imposter shuffled around in the bag, finding it quickly. "Let's see... There's that, here's my Card (thank goodness), everyone else seems to be here..."

Imposter shifted itself a brow to furrow as it moved around the other various items, checking to see that it was not missing anything. When it noticed what was gone for sure, it shouted hysterically.

"What? What is it, you?" Froakie spluttered, adding to the panic.

"F-Froakie, my Sitrus Berries! They took all of them!"

Froakie looked down and shook his head. "Freaks."

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _02952 is the actual Trainer ID for my copy of Alpha Sapphire, from where I'd imported all the Ditto. (In-universe, that is actually Grace's ID.) Imposter's own ID came out to be exactly 34000._

* * *

 **Yeah, I wasn't really planning on having Sina and Dexio in this story, but while writing this chapter, the idea came up, and I had to. If you didn't catch it, essentially their game versions are to Sycamore as their _Imposter_ versions are to Lysandre. Unsure whether I actually like them better this way, but at least now they are in the story.**

 **Then there's VW. Ironically he's one of my favorite things about this story, and with what I've given you so far, there is actually a bunch of things you are able to speculate about him. Who he is, his name, his role. Just, I won't be confirming or denying any guesses, since I want to keep y'all on your toes.**

 **And Team Flare does know about Imposter being a Ditto. The grunt at the end of chapter seven saw it Transform and reported it. Anyway, thanks for reading! Send a review if you're enjoying it, because I sure know I am. ;)**


	12. Chapter 12

Heading through the gate in northern Lumiose City, a young trainer could be seen clutching a large and filthy bag with a broken strap. Trusty Froakie by its side, the trainer was just glad to have made it to civilization in one piece.

"Uh... Ditto!"

Shauna's voice rung somewhat familiar in Imposter's mind. The little girl ran up towards it. "There you are! Look - they've been able to get the lights back on in the city. Serena was just telling me how she took down a whole evil base of operations just to get everything to work again. Just in time for Centrico Plaza's - wait, what happened to your bag?"

It was physically impossible for Imposter to tell her that the garment had been gnawed on by a flock of Skiddo, so it just showed her the damage.

"Tsk," she tsked. "We've gotta get you a new one. Don't worry. There's a boutique down Vernal Avenue where everything is just _fab_."

Without even asking, she grabbed Imposter's hand (it made a note that while Serena preferred the wrist, this one seemed to have different tastes) and took it on her way.

Much to Imposter's chagrin, she ended up hailing a taxi. The vehicle reminded it of Coumarine's monorail: a cramped, moving room that made it feel sick.

The drive there only took a few minutes, but Imposter's legs - too long for the back seat - were ready to start walking again the instant it sat down. And, no matter how relieved it was at her safety, Shauna's attempts at small talk were not helping.

Eventually the car pulled to a stop. Shauna paid the driver, and the two stepped into the cool evening.

"Right in here. I know this place can be a bit pricey, but I'll help you count to see if you have enough. It's just a bag, I mean, it's not like you're going to be walking out with a whole new style. Right?"

Imposter was characteristically not listening. She led it inside and they paraded past some salespeople making a commotion ("That boy! If ever there was a stylish person in Kalos today, it would be him!"), up the stairs to the men's department.

Shauna looked Imposter up and down, seeming pleased. For such a high-end store, there did not seem to be much variety, but the girl seemed to have Imposter covered.

"Black," she decided, holding a vinyl messenger bag up to it. "Definitely black."

The cashier seemed more than happy to give Imposter a discount, which Shauna had said it needed. Even with this, the girl still had to chip in if Imposter was to have any prize money left for healing items.

It stared at her as the two walked out of the store. "What?"

It could not speak, so it just kept staring.

Red pigments appeared on her cheeks. "Um, I couldn't just let you run yourself dry on something like a working bag. Besides, I'm the one who brought you to this expensive place - I should try to compensate a little. My parents are pretty rich, anyway, so it's no big deal at all. My treat; don't make anything of it. Now, let's take care of getting that new bag set up, eh?"

* * *

Imposter would admit, it was looking snazzy.

It did not know what, but something about being human again, carrying around its new accessory, a girl on its arm and a Froakie on its shoulder, made it feel rather special.

Dusk had fallen, but the dropping temperature did not keep the Lumiose natives from lighting up the city. Crowds had gathered in the streets, fanfares sounded, and in high Kalosian fashion, galettes were being sold every fifteen feet.

Shauna was munching on one now. "Look, they lit up the Prism Tower!" Her words came out muffled in-between bites. "Is it usually that bright?"

Imposter looked and regretted it. Its eyes were not prepared for that.

"Wanna slice?" Shauna was holding up a bit of her snack. Imposter wondered whether human food would make it sick, forgot what it was thinking about, and graciously accepted.

The two strolled along for a while, just to see what Lumiose was about. Imposter was only vaguely aware of how lost it was, and small bags were growing under Shauna's eyes.

At some point, Froakie grabbed Imposter's attention, pointing down the street. They had to squint to see clearly, even with the streetlights illuminating the way.

"Isn't that our friend over there?" Froakie was wondering. "The VW fella?"

Imposter was too far away to know for sure, but it thought it recognized the collar, at least.

It was about to say something when Shauna interrupted by reaching for its hand again, dragging it off to another activity. The Ditto waved it off as coincidence.

They visited a café for some Soda Pops ("No ice?" Shauna had complained, "Really with this city?"), popped in to the Trainer PR Video Store at the girl's request, and generally toured around Lumiose for the night. A photographer had at some point stopped them for a picture in front of the Prism Tower, and Shauna could not refuse.

Imposter understood that it was supposed to stand still and smile, which was simple enough; the problem came when Shauna started scolding the cameraman.

"Wha-Are you going to get out of my face?" She looked flustered. "You might just want to stand over there and - not move while you're taking a picture."

The man did not seem to care, spinning around the two like a poorly-coordinated roller skater. "No no, madame. Zis is how we do it here. A Lumiose camera _never_ sits still!"

Other than that charade, the rest of the night went by without a hitch. Froakie had continued shooting warning looks at Imposter for reasons the Ditto still did not quite understand, but the situation with his father seemed too personal to question. Eventually the group stumbled upon their other friends, as the crowds thinned and streets cleared out.

"Hey, it's Shauna and uh... Ditto."

"So it is. Howdy, neighbor."

"All right! The gang's all here then!"

Serena laughed as the two walked up. "Shauna, isn't it a little past your bedtime?"

The girl stammered. "Hey, I'm fifteen whole years old! I don't need to be told when to go to bed!"

"Oh yeah? Why do you look so tired, then?"

"I'm not tired..." she whined, "I'm just worn from walking around all day."

"So you're tired," teased Tierno. Shauna glared, but there was an air of friendliness behind it.

"Anyway, it seems like the festival is over," Serena observed. "You ready to head back?"

Trevor pandiculated. "I sure am. C'mon - we all agreed to stay at my place tonight. Let's get a cab and go on home."

"That's right," Tierno reminded the group. "This kid lives right here in the big city! Who'da thunk it?"

If Imposter was cramped with one friend in the car, it was nauseous with four. To its right, past where Shauna was using its shoulder as a pillow, Trevor was doing the same with the window. Imposter hiccuped as the room bumped over a pothole, and somehow the taste of the galette from earlier reappeared in its mouth.

* * *

Trevor's parents were gracious hosts, and sleeping quarters for the five teenagers were sorted out quickly between his room, his traveling sister's, a guest room, and two couches. Apparently - and Imposter just barely remembered this - humans changed their appearance for sleeping, so it had to think quickly about how to shift itself a set of nightwear.

Ultimately it ended up copying Tierno's, as his looked the comfiest, but the difference in shape between the two made the clothing look misshapen on Imposter.

No one seemed to mind, however - they were all wearing something baggy. Imposter tossed its new bag on the ground next to its designated couch, ready to turn in.

"So," Froakie chatted. "How're you going to do this, exactly? Sure you want to sleep all night as a human?"

There was not enough privacy in the living room for it to deform, and it responded accordingly. "I will. If it's comfortable."

It hoisted itself sideways into the couch, which it noticed was much softer than the one at Grace's. All the lights in the house were turned off as it draped a blanket over itself, sinking down into the cushions.

"Well. Is it comfortable?" Froakie wondered.

Imposter was already too asleep to answer.

* * *

After a short breakfast, Imposter and its friends had dispersed throughout the city and were separated by noontime. It was Serena's decision: a sleepover now and then was nice, but something like that should never distract from a trainer's journey. She was only in town for the celebration, she had claimed, and by the next day was ready to continue the pursuit of her sixth Gym badge.

Likewise, Trevor had Pokédexing responsibilities to take care of, and Tierno and Shauna wanted to explore something in the next town over. So, Imposter was left alone again, to continue exploring the city.

Nothing too exciting came up, until it spotted a Gogoat with a human on top of him. Imposter was interested in that line of Pokémon, so this was an exciting development for it.

The Ditto followed its quarry until it came across the place: twenty or more of the critters were dressed up in fancy saddles and helping people with their transportation. Wordlessly, it parked its bag behind a tree and made its way over.

Froakie seemed happy to occupy himself with guarding the party. He said that there was nothing better to do in this town; his fascination with trees led Imposter to believe it.

It had little trouble sneaking in behind all the Grass-Types and morphing into one - it had always been discreet that way. It chatted them up for an amount of time that it cared not to keep track of, until a human came up and reached for its scruff.

"This one will do nicely," she said, locking eyes with it.

Oh boy! Imposter was going to get to do Gogoat things! It slightly shook in excitement.

It was unable to get a good look at the human before she boarded, but her pink braids and stark red pants made her stand out among the Kalos trainers it had met so far. She was lighter than Imposter was expecting a human to be, and when she grabbed hold of its horns, it hardly felt it.

A nudge by her foot, and they were off. Imposter trotted along, just happy to be doing this.

At some point, the lady on its back began talking - not to it, it did not think; with every sentence it appeared she had been given a response out of the air.

"Hello...—Yes, it's me. How's it coming?—In Lumiose City.—Are you kidding? I'd never be allowed to miss. All Four of us had to be there.—Listen, you're the mastermind here. I don't know what you want little old me to do.—Take it up with Celosia and Bryony if you're really having trouble, okay? You know I'm not in charge of all the technical stuff.—What about it? Isn't that whole thing just something the boss wanted to look into for the heck of it? Whatever, I'll keep an eye out, I guess.—Goodbye. I'll see what I can do."

Imposter heard the sound of an electrical device powering down. "Hey there, Pokémon," the lady said, this time probably to Imposter. "Did you miss my stop? You did." She sighed. "Let's go..."

Imposter felt its horns being moved, awkwardly turning its head. Was this the direction they were going now? Apparently. "Not the brightest one in the flock, are you?" Miss Lady mumbled.

There was no reason not to keep going the way she turned it, so it just continued in that direction until its passenger nudged it again.

"Here it is," she decided, sliding off. "Take your prize money. I'm way too busy for this."

She walked a few feet ahead, stopped, withdrew a Poké Ball, brought out the most obnoxious-looking Flying-Type Imposter had ever seen, hopped aboard, and flew off.

And Imposter had some more cash, now.

* * *

Froakie licked his webbed fingers, spying down from his perch. "You're back."

"So I am," Imposter agreed. It reached down and slipped on its bag, completely human again.

"Was it all you've ever hoped it would be and more?"

"It was pretty good, I guess. Do you have any idea how much money this is?"

Froakie's eyes grew wide. "You made a buck? Look at you! Maybe you can pay back Pigtails now."

Imposter rolled its eyes, saying it ironically this time: "Oh, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hey, you're smiling - you know exactly what I'm talking about! Your face is giving you all away!"

"Hm. Well, we should try to think about moving onward, huh?"

Froakie looked relieved. "Ah, and finally get out of this city? I'm so down."

"Okay, let's-"

Imposter stopped short. "Uh, I have no idea where I'm supposed to go."

Froakie massaged the space between his eyes and hopped down. "Well that there's a problem, ain't it?"

"Guess so."

There was a pause. "Do you want to-"

"I'm not calling a taxi."

"-Oh."

Imposter looked down at its feet and just started walking. "Where you goin'?"

"I dunno."

Froakie shrugged, then hopped along. "Fine by me."

Imposter really was not watching where it was going, however: after a few minutes, it walked right into another human.

"Oh, hi, C-Ca-" he stopped. "Wait, you're... Oh, you must be that guy. His brother. Imposter, right? I'm Clemont."

He held out a hand, and Imposter (remembering the gesture from Shauna) gave it a pound. Clemont furrowed his brow.

"I'm - the Gym Leader here in Lumiose City," he slowly continued. "If you're on your League challenge, too, you'll have to battle me, you know."

Imposter's eyelids fell. So it would be staying in Lumiose for a while longer, then.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _If Imposter had to choose a favorite Pokémon - besides Ditto, of course - it would probably pick Skiddo/Gogoat. It's because humans seem to like them a lot._


	13. Chapter 13

"If you're on your League challenge, too, you'll have to battle me, you know."

Imposter's eyelids fell. Who decided not to tell it that there was a Gym in Lumiose City? It was Serena, wasn't it? It must have been Serena...

"Um, anyway, no doubt you've seen the Gym - it's built right into the Prism Tower!" Clemont raved. "It took a bit of convincing, but the city ultimately figured it would do more good than harm. The League didn't even have to bri-"

Imposter furrowed its brow after a few seconds of Clemont's holding the syllable out: "-iiighten it up anymore to make it look pretty - oh, _heeey_ Miss Diantha, didn't see you there!"

The Ditto turned around to see she was indeed approaching. "Hello, Clemont," she greeted. "How are you today?"

"How am I? Doing fine, but - how are _you_ today?"

Her eyes were small in their sockets, suffocated by the eyelids framing them. "I understand your concern, Clemont, and I thank you for it; but I ask that you don't bother," she chided. "Remember that I've always been prepared for anything. You've got your own Gym to take care of, don't you?"

"I do!" Clemont responded. "Also, this here's a trainer who still hasn't taken me on, so we might as well get to it."

Right now? Imposter's eyes grew.

"That's wonderful." Diantha sounded relieved as she said it. "Clemont uses Pokémon that don't have a lot of weaknesses," she explained. "You ought to look into what those are or be prepared to overstrength them."

Clemont grinned, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, I'm not _that_ strong. Just try your best, and we'll have to see just how good that is."

Diantha nodded. "That sounds like a good attitude for a Gym battle. Anyway, good luck to the both of you; I'd better be on my way."

Clemont waved as she turned away. "Good to see you! Good luck to you, too!"

"I won't need it," she laughed over her shoulder. "But thanks."

The Gym Leader faced Imposter. "Well, guess I'll see you in the Gym, huh?"

Imposter nodded, and Clemont walked off with another wave. Now just to find this Prism Tower of which Clemont was speaking.

"I know what you're thinking," Froakie piped up. "You have _no idea whatsoever_ where the Gym even is, do you?"

It sadly shook its head. "Well, here's a tip - watch where the Leader is going!"

Indeed, after following along behind Clemont, the two came upon the largest building in the city, complete with the familiar Kalos Pokémon League Gym logo. This may have been it, so Imposter decided to go inside.

Somehow, the tower was smaller than it looked on the outside. No matter; there ought to have been something to do in here. The cylindrical column in the center was a good place to start.

Somehow, said column appeared to sense its presence, and opened up when it approached. Upon stepping in, Imposter realized just what this was: a human elevator.

One with only four buttons; three of them seemed to be locked in place, however, so the last would have to do.

It remembered this unnatural sensation of rising without control, similar to the movement of a vehicle, but vertically. Froakie made a note that he remembered too.

What would it be this time? Walking on a tightrope made of vines? Skateboarding through a maze of boulders? The doors opened, and unlike any of the other Gyms thus far, Imposter had no idea what was expected of it.

One small human came running up, as if to help it find out.

"Challenger," she shouted. "Welcome to my big brother's Gym! You wanna know how we do things here?"

The girl giggled. "I'll show you! I'm Bonnie, by the way!"

Imposter followed her finger to the back wall, where a few more cylinders were being guarded by one trainer each. "You have to pick one based on the answer to a trivia question. I think your Froakie's cute, by the way."

Froakie mumbled something. Imposter was unsure whether it was modesty or refusal, but whatever it was, he was saying it quickly.

"Look, the question's up there," she said, pointing to a large screen near the top of the wall. Three silhouettes of what Imposter figured were Pokémon were shown, beneath some writing; each had a small label beneath them too.

"Yep! That's all ya gotta do! Which trainer has the answer to the question?"

Imposter squinted up at the screen, with nary an idea as to what was being asked.

"What's wrong? Can't read or sumpthin'?"

Imposter looked down and shook its head sadly, as if to ask for help; Bonnie did not seem to understand.

"Cool, mee neether! I have no clue what the question even is!"

Imposter sighed and looked up. Froakie tugged at its jeans.

"Having trouble there, 'Pasta?"

"Yeah."

"Gimme a boost. Let's see if I can't make anything out, huh?"

That was right: Froakie could read! The Ditto bent down and scooped up its friend, who reached for his chin in thought.

"Alright, it says... 'Which of these Pokémon smells the most like masking tape'?"

Imposter was confused. "And what is that?"

"Buddy, that's not what it actually says. I've never formally learned how to do this, you know, so I can't make any promises."

"Try your best?"

"I will, just let me... I know there are numbers involved... That looks like it's the species name of a Pokémon there... Oh, and one instance of interrogative punctuation. If that helps."

It did not help.

"Whoa, are you _talking_ to your Pokémon?" Bonnie interrupted, and Imposter snapped to her direction. "That's pretty neat! I wanna too!"

Imposter hoisted Froakie to the ground. All it could do to dispel this notion was shake its head, so it did that vigorously.

"He can _talk_ to _Pokémon!_ " The girl disregarded Imposter's insisting that it was not so, and it pushed forward. Whatever the answer, it would have to end up battling somebody, so it might as well just pick one and hope its instincts could be trusted.

"So you think the answer is Dedenne?" asked the schoolboy in front of the elevator in the middle. Imposter just nodded.

"Hope ya got it right!" Bonnie shouted from behind it; it simply ignored her.

"Well, you'll have to battle me to find out," responded its adversary. Imposter fumbled for a Poké Ball.

The Stunfisk that emerged gave Imposter all the answer it needed. "Hey, a trainer? Hah! This fool must have gotten the answer wrong. _Everyone_ knows what a Pikachu looks like!"

If this was untrue, it did not apply to Imposter; it had occasionally seen Trevor walking around with his out, and was able to recognize its silhouette as the one on the right.

It just needed to defeat this trainer, and remember which was the answer.

Ditto was sent out, and it begun to Transform before pausing to have a word with its trainer: "Wait, I have to turn into this thing?"

* * *

All of the following questions ended in generally the same way - like the other Gyms, there were plenty of battles Imposter had to win, and plenty of times it failed to do so. Also like the other Gyms, however, it eventually ended up meeting the Leader, now with Bonnie trailing behind it the whole time.

When they finally reached Clemont's chamber, it was she that got his attention first. "Big brother! Look, I found a trainer for you! And he can talk to Pok-"

Imposter was unaware of what humans did to other humans to get them to stop talking, so it improvised. By slipping two fingers into her mouth.

Clemont's face distorted into a look of confusion, then one of frustration. "Hey, Bonnie! What did I say about bothering the challengers?"

The girl spit out Imposter's hand. "I just thought 'cause maybe they'd want to know that I'm your sis and all..."

Clemont sighed and shook his head. "Well now he knows. Go home, Bonita. Now, you - challenger! I can only imagine how much it must mean to you right now to continue winning for yourself. But I must warn you! Go up against me and you'll be facing a team trained in the high sciences, and they won't go down so easy. After all, the fut-"

"He's gonna say it!" Bonnie chimed in. "You'll see; this is like his catchphrase. Says it like every day. Like right now!"

"You... just be quiet, okay?"

"Okay! I'll just let you do your Gym Leader thing then!"

"Yes. Listen, I've gotta apologize for her, Imposter. Let's uh... Let's just get on with the battle then?"

Imposter blinked. Fine as far as it was concerned.

 _You are challenged by Leader Clemont!_

The trainers sent out their Pokémon, and unsurprisingly, Bonnie was the first to comment.

"Aha, see, big brother? This one uses such cool Pokémon! Watch what it does!"

Likely just to humor her, Clemont looked. Ditto Transformed into his Emolga.

"That would have been really exciting to see if I wasn't already expecting a surprise," Clemont said. "Anyway, so now there are two. Is this your strategy, Imposter?"

It gave a determined smile to accompany its nod, then motioned for its friend to use Aerial Ace.

"No, Quick Attack it first!"

Clemont's Emolga floated around Ditto, found an opening, then struck. Ditto did not seem phased, but returned with an Aerial Ace that did considerably less damage.

Imposter bit its tongue. So Quick Attack was the better move. It would use that.

Emolga shook it off, and Clemont ordered another move new to his adversary. "Volt Switch."

Before Imposter or Ditto could comprehend the situation, the latter had taken an attack and Emolga was gone completely. In his place hovered Clemont's second: a trio of metal spheres and magnets known as a Magneton.

"Uh - Aerial Ace," Imposter decided, trying to keep up with the Gym Leader's tricks. Magneton was eerily still as it took the attack, not saying or doing anything until Clemont gave his next command:

"Electric Terrain!"

If Imposter thought Volt Switch was a confusing move, Electric Terrain was pandemonium. It found itself shielding its eyes from the sudden electrified state of the room - currents running across the floor and up the walls, sparks flying and stray bolts connecting the floor to the ceiling in electrical stalagmites.

Imposter was not ready for this.

Clemont was standing tall, fixing his glasses so that they did not show his eyes but reflected light into Imposter's. Bonnie seemed to find this change of scenery exciting, as she was jumping up and down with a smile half the size of her face.

"Yeah, now the battle's _really_ starting to heat up!" Bonnie exclaimed. Her brother sent her a sharp look.

Imposter was still baffled. "Qu-Quick Attack?"

Again, the Steel-Type Magneton acted as though it had not been hurt at all. Then, "Thunderbolt, now!"

Ditto fell pitifully to the ground. Its trainer was floored. Well, Magneton was damaged now, and Imposter's next would copy all its defenses, so maybe there was a way to turn this around.

"You can do it, Ditto," it called. "Thunderbolt!"

Magneton squawked as it was hit this time, but it sounded more like a robotic cough. Imposter drew a sharp breath at the first visible sign of its adversary taking damage.

"That's it, Ditto, do it again."

Magneton and Ditto continued on like this, until the latter fainted. Imposter cringed as it sent out its third.

One Thunderbolt from Ditto and Magneton was finished, to Imposter's pleasant surprise. Bonnie 'Oooh'-ed, and Clemont pushed up his glasses. Imposter gulped.

"There you have it," the Gym Leader retorted. "Classic Magneton. You won't ever know if it's hurt, or how much it's got left in it. Would still keep floating there if it up and lost one of its Magnemite segments one day, and wouldn't even tell you."

He returned his fainted battler. "Anyway, ready to face my ace-in-the-hole?"

"Ready or not, here he comes!" Bonnie yelped with a small hop.

"Bonita!" Clemont's face was red. "Why're you always - I'm trying to - argh! Could you just be quiet?"

"Yep! Well, I think I can. Haven't really tried." With this, she flashed a bright little smile, her tongue poking out.

"Just - g-go, Heliolisk!"

Clemont chucked a Great Ball out onto the field, it popping open and releasing a yellow, reptilian Pokémon.

"Ugh, use Thunderbolt."

Heliolisk looked like he was about to yawn, but instead of breath, sparks accumulated in front of his maw. Ditto looked surprised: that was not how most Pokémon would use Electric-Type moves. It overprepared; its tensed up to brace itself for the move, but seemed unphased afterward.

Clemont brought a hand to the side of his head. Imposter knew what was about to happen. It continued to command Thunderbolts, while the Gym Leader did the same, occasionally spraying Super Potions.

The Electric Terrain was long gone by now. Bonnie's eyelids had fallen halfway down her eyes, and she yawned. "Clemont..." she whined. "Why is nothing happening? This is getting boring."

Clemont exhaled. "It doesn't have to be-"

He was interrupted by his Pokémon, whose pained cry indicated that he was no longer able to battle.

That was it, right? Emolga, Magneton, and Heliolisk... that was three, matching the number of Balls on Clemont's belt. It had won. Right?

Clemont growled. "Fine, let's wrap this up."

He tossed the weakened Emolga back into the fray, causing Imposter's face to contort into shock. That was right: Emolga had not actually fainted, but mysteriously disappeared earlier in the battle.

"Ae-Aerial Ace," the trainer sighed. Ditto blinked, seeming as surprised as Imposter was why the attack did so little.

"Um, Thunderbolt again, I guess," it decided, and Ditto pulled through.

Emolga spread his arms wide, absorbing the hit. He floated like a piece of paper to the ground, lifting a thumb as to say his opponent did a good job.

The Electric-Type's Ball slurped him up in the form of red-twinged energy. "There, you won," Clemont admitted.

 _You... defeated... Leader Clemont._

Imposter hesitated to return Ditto. "Y-You gave up," it realized. "Why?"

"No, we can't both win, Imposter. Your Pokémon beat mine. Take the - what was it again? Oh - the Voltage Badge, or whatever."

He took the metal object from his pocket, held it in the air, and let go. Suddenly, it shot forwards, attracted to one of Ditto's magnets.

"I caught it," the Pokémon announced jovially. Imposter looked down and took the badge off, looking it over.

 _Imposter got the Voltage Badge._

"Ditto, didn't it look like he gave up?"

Ditto spun its magnets in celebration. "I thought that seemed a little easy."

"Hm."

"Like I said," continued the Gym Leader. "It's yours. Sorry the battle couldn't have been more _interesting_."

Imposter wanted to speak out to him, and regretted being unable to do so. So it too gave up. Exhaling, it called Ditto back to its Ball and turned back towards the elevator.

"This is why I'm losing so much, Bonita," it faintly heard Clemont say. "I'm not enjoying battles anymore, not with all your commentary. After long enough I just want them to be over."

Imposter stepped into the elevator, Froakie in tow. It watched the scene for the seconds before the doors shut.

"You don't... think it's cute, big brother?"

"Pokémon battles aren't cute. Sorry, but you..."

The doors connected, and the Pokémon began their descent. Imposter studied its newest badge.

"Snazzy," Froakie complimented. Imposter bit its lips.

"Listen, are you really that hung up on those two? Siblings are always like that. Me and my brothers and sister, you should have seen it. It might be for the ultimate good of the planet that we'll never see each other again."

Imposter tucked the badge into its Trainer Card. Froakie's words never ceased to be comforting.

* * *

Imposter stepped out of the Prism Tower and looked up. A tall human was standing right in front of it, and it wanted to know who.

The man gazed down at Imposter with a soft smile. "Hey," Froakie whispered. "It's corn chip haircut!"

The man stood up straight. "Imposter. Right?"

It nodded, no longer caring how humans tended to know its name.

"I've heard a lot about you," the dark-suited man continued. "You're a rather ambitious one. You probably just walked off with your fifth badge, right?"

What was this man's name? It started with an - 'R', right?

"Lysandre." Apparently he sensed Imposter's question. "I was just visiting this part of Lumiose for yesterday's celebration. Tell me; do you have a Holo Caster?"

A what? Imposter shook its head.

Lysandre opened up his vest, and from it, he removed a small, electronic device. "I am the president of the company that produces these," he went on to say. "I want you to have it. You can keep in touch with other people that way."

That seemed redundant. Imposter could just as easily keep in touch with people by standing in front of them. Like right now.

Maybe that was the point. It held the contraption up between them, waiting to see what it would do.

Lysandre seemed amused. "My boy," began he, "you have much to learn."

Imposter took this to mean it should put the machine away, which it did. "Good. Now, I've taken a personal interest in you. I wish you would... help me answer some questions I have."

He shook his head. "Not right now. Just continue doing what you're doing."

As if he knew no farewell was needed when dealing with Imposter, he continued forward into the tower after this sentence. Froakie made a show of following him with his eyes; Imposter just kept going the way it was, hardly giving the man a second thought.

Only a few steps later, its new toy began rumbling in its bag. Curious, Imposter pulled it out and tapped a button.

A familiar human's face appeared in the air above, much to Imposter's surprise. Fascinated, it reached out to touch the three-dimensional image, speechless when its hand passed through it. It was a hologram.

The person's voice was familiar, too. "Hello, Imposter," she greeted; now Imposter recognized the face as Miss Lady, whom it toted around Lumiose earlier. "I can see that you have successfully been gifted this Holo Caster. Remember always to keep it on and charged; you'll want to make sure never to miss calls from fabulous people like me - Malva of the Kalos Pokémon League! Thank you for choosing Lysandre Labs!"

The image cut off. Stunned, Imposter moved to replace the machine.

"Hey, y'okay there?" Froakie wondered.

Imposter closed its mouth. "Yeah. It's just - I think I've met that woman before. Something tells me... I'd better take notes next time I see her."

Froakie paused. "Any reason why?"

"Yeah." Imposter looked down. "Seems like she's rather... important. Like becoming her could do me some good."

"Hm." Froakie 'hm'-ed. "In the meantime, could you become someone giving me a berry? Watching a Gym fight really takes it out of you."

Imposter rolled its eyes and provided. Out of the corner of its eye, it spotted a different female of interest.

"Uh... Ditto!" Shauna was crying out, "Tierny's in trouble! You've gotta follow me to Route Fourteen!"

 _~End of Part Five~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _To be honest... I've never really liked Bonnie. Or the Kalos anime in general. Sorry for sticking personal distaste into their characters - they're pretty decent in the games, anyway - I just wanted to put that opinion out there, since it doesn't seem to be quite popular._

* * *

 **Not one of my personal favorite chapters, but it gets the job done, so. The next Gym battle will be a lot more - interesting, at least in my opinion. Have a nice Memorial Day weekend. :)**


	14. Chapter 14

"In _there!_ Hurry!"

Shauna was sprinting towards an abandoned-looking house. Froakie was huffing along behind; Imposter was tumbling forwards, trying to keep up.

The girl burst into the house. "This place is haunted," she kept saying. "Look!"

Imposter did, and there was Tierno: suspended high above the ground, flailing his arms around in pathetic circles.

Imposter panicked. There was nothing holding the boy there; there was nothing the Ditto could do, but it reached back for a Ball anyway, in case a team member could help.

Tierno's frantic yelps gradually turned into the kind of laughter that usually came out of Froakie. Confused, Imposter worriedly faced Shauna, who was wearing a proud grin.

"Got you."

The Water-Type at its side seemed to be getting it, but Imposter sure was not. "Phantump, you can put him down now," Shauna giggled.

The previously invisible Ghost-Type emerged, and Imposter began to catch its breath. The boy was placed delicately on the ground, and the Pokémon swooped down to get a better look at Imposter.

"You're cute!" Phantump's surprisingly feminine voice splurted out. "No wonder Shauna likes you!"

She then did an aerial flip down to Froakie's eye level. "And aren't you a charmer? I bet you're just the happiest little froggy, huh?"

Shauna grinned. "That's Phantump," she explained. "Got her from Serena in a trade, along with an Everstone! How nice, right? We've been training here a bunch so that she can hopefully evolve soon. I think we're almost there! Anyway, Phantump's a Ghost-Type, so she's really special. Normal- and Fighting-Types can't even touch them!"

Was that true? Well, there was a Normal-Type here that can test that idea. It extended its hand out to the Pokémon, who wiggled in the air in an amused manner as it completely passed through.

"Huh," Shauna guessed, "It must apply to people, too. Anyway, now that we're here, you want to continue on to Laverre City? It's not far."

Imposter had nothing to lose, and figured that continuing would only do it good. It nodded.

"Great. This way!"

The girl ran outside, followed by her Pokémon. Imposter and Tierno shared a look; that one could be a lot sometimes.

The latter stepped outside, mumbling amusedly about how Imposter should have seen its face; the former faced Froakie. The little Water-Type was staring out the door with an air of - wistfulness, Imposter decided.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, just..." Froakie was stuttering. "Never seen a Pokémon who so enthusiastically shared my affinity for pranks, is all."

That Imposter understood. "Come on, then. The next town awaits."

* * *

And so the next town did. Once there, Shauna informed Tierno and Imposter that to the north of this city was the factory that produced Poké Balls for the entire Kalos region. Of course, this was what she insisted on checking out first; that was, until a familiar face emerged from a nearby building.

The structure itself was built into a tree, and Imposter was reminded of Ramos's Gym back in Coumarine. The person walking towards them was Serena, proudly hoisting her Trainer Card into the air.

"Hey, guys. Guess who just got her sixth badge?"

Shauna squeaked in excitement. "Really?"

"Mm-hm."

"Hey, congrats," Tierno nervously said.

Imposter got an idea; from where, it cared less than it knew. "We should battle."

Serena's face hardened. "You too?" Her voice was skeptical. "We should battle, then."

Imposter gave a flat look to Froakie, who burst into giggles.

"Just to see which of us has gotten stronger. If we really are at the same point in our journeys."

Shauna made an impressed noise; Tierno stepped back.

But Imposter was ready; it had already flung out a Ditto, just waiting for Serena to start.

"Well you're enthusiastic, geesh!" She dug around; "Here's the one. Get 'em, Aurorus!"

Imposter's eyebrows furrowed. Serena always led with Meowstic. Why not now?

Serena laughed as Ditto Transformed. "Hidden Power," she ordered.

This move again. The Ditto remembered Serena had a Pokémon called Amaura who knew it, and that that move was a problem.

Ditto immediately fainted. Perhaps that was her strategy.

Imposter's blood ran cold as it sent in the second. "You try a Hidden Power, now."

Aurorus bent at the hit, and Imposter thought the attack may have done enough damage; it was wrong, however, and the second Ditto was quickly taken out.

What was this sensation of water appearing from its pores? It had experienced it yesterday, while navigating Route Thirteen. It did not feel hot; what was the cause this time?

"Go... Limber."

Limber popped out, landing in a ready stance. "Just say the word," it breathed.

"Do it! Trans-"

"Hidden Power."

Serena yawned as her Pokémon moved first; Limber's eyes grew to the size of Oran Berries when the attack came hurtling towards it.

A breath escaped the Ditto, and Imposter was almost sure it was done for. That was, until it noticed its friend going for the Transformation anyway.

"Alright, Limber!" It wanted to celebrate louder, but the surrounding humans would think that was weird. "You can do it. Gogogo."

"...And now?" Limber croaked.

"Um, try out Hidden Power."

Imposter had to take a step back, as the energy wave leaving Limber was large and bright enough to cause eye damage. When the dust cleared, it was Aurorus who had hit the ground first.

Limber heaved. Chest rocking back and forth, it stared down at the fallen Aurorus and then across at his trainer.

Serena looked slightly disappointed, but not deterred. She shrugged, then tossed another Ball.

The Pokémon that came out of it landed with a thud on the ground. He roared upon seeing Imposter, but the threat was interrupted by the soft sound of bells.

"Graa- oh, these bells and stars... and they're gone. Okay! So, I'm battling _this_ thing!" Chesnaught cupped one hand onto the other as he spoke, completely disregarding Limber and digging into Imposter's eyes.

It took a moment to realize that this was the starter that seemed to have something against it, then realize that, without even receiving an order from Serena, he had began charging towards Limber.

"Buh - Limber - use Ice Beam!"

Its friend prepared the move, but Chesnaught was too fast. He never took his eyes off Imposter when slamming his fist into Limber in a Brick Break, knocking it out instantly.

Imposter stuttered. "W-What do you have against me?" The question came out a whisper; whether from fear or from shock, Imposter could not tell.

Chesnaught's eyes briefly left Imposter's, only to watch the defeated form of Limber dissolving into its Ultra Ball. "What do you have against the order of things? Pokémon don't train other Pokémon. What are humans even _for_ if not to act as trainers?"

Imposter was speechless. Humans were - what was the word? - fantastic, that's what they were. The Ditto was almost offended.

"Just send something out already. Let's get this over with."

Shaking, Imposter withdrew another Ball. Froakie hopped up.

"Yo, why're you letting this fool treatcha like that? He just thinks he's special 'cause he's shiny. He might be right about you, but there's no reason to mouth off like that."

Chesnaught growled. "You might wanna be quiet, Froakie," he taunted. "Lest I tell Sycamore about the Rotom incident."

Froakie did a one-eighty so that he was facing the opponent. "How are you going to do that when you can't even tell these people it's an imp-" Froakie stopped and put a hand to his forehead. "Ah, I get it now."

Chesnaught deadpanned, and Serena piped up. "Hey, is something the matter? Why aren't you sending out a Pokémon?"

Then she gasped. "Are-Are you forfeiting?"

Imposter shook its head, and to prove it, sent out its next battler.

Chesnaught eyed his replica. "I will give you credit," he revealed. "You all are good at that copying thing-"

"Ditto, now!"

Ditto Body Slammed into its rambling opponent, knocking him over. The agitated Grass-Type was now defending from the ground, pleading with the humans more than the Pokémon.

"You have to see that it's not one of you! It's - get off of me!"

He hurled a Seed Bomb to the other Ditto, who was putting its weight on him and received the attack at point-blank range.

Ditto flew backwards, and the battlers' roles reversed. Chesnaught stepped on the other's chest and reared back for another Brick Break.

Ditto coughed as the Pokémon's hand came down. It blinked, and upon reopening, one might have seen swirls in its eyes.

Imposter knew it was done battling, and quickly switched it out. Chesnaught spun around as it rummaged through its bag. "Look! Look at its feet! They're purple!"

Serena looked her starter in the eyes. "Chesnaught, what's wrong? You know I can't understand you..."

"I do. This clown doesn't." He changed his strategy by pointing directly to Imposter's feet.

The poor Pokémon would never have noticed if not for him pointing it out, but panic arose in Imposter when it looked down to realize this was true. It happened sometimes, in intense situations: confrontations and tough battles would do it, and this was both.

Serena squinted to where Chesnaught was pointing, but Froakie was standing in the way. He spread his arms out wide, covering up the carnage.

Imposter worked hard to regain form, while a frustrated Chesnaught came and effortlessly swiped Froakie away. "Unbelievable," he complained. Imposter's feet were pristinely rounded off in the form of boots. He glared. "You are good at that, huh? Is this all you do, just copy people?"

Technically, that was almost true. It did other things while copying people, but only a minority of its life was spent in the typical shape of a Ditto.

Imposter shrugged, and Chesnaught reluctantly walked away. "Fine. You got another one?"

It did, and it sent it out. The new one Transformed, giving a little squeal that it was able to become a shiny.

Contrary to Imposter's commands, it took a little too long admiring its special coloration, leaving itself vulnerable to Chesnaught's Brick Break.

 _It's a critical hit!_

It looked up in surprise. "Ditto," Imposter called. "You do the same thing."

Ditto finally got over itself and attempted it. Chesnaught shook himself; experienced trainers could tell he was on his way out, but still had some energy left.

"And again, Ditto."

"Chesnaught, Brick Break!"

Both Serena's and Imposter's battlers reared up, but it was the former's who was faster. Chesnaught pounded his opponent down, resulting in the fainting of one Ditto and the embarrassment of another.

Imposter inhaled fully, withdrawing Ditto's Ball. "To be honest, I don't blame you for being distracted," it whispered to its fallen friend. "Being shiny would probably be pretty neat."

Ditto was sucked up into the contraption, which Imposter placed into its bag. Its hands reached into its long pockets.

Serena looked puzzled, and next to her, so did Shauna and Tierno. "Wh-What was that?" Serena asked. "Chesnaught's never that upset about anything. Why don't you like our - friend, here, boy?"

"Because it's-"

"There's nothing wrong with being different," she reminded him. "Imposter might not be like other humans, but he's still a person. I think..."

The last part was added ironically, but Chesnaught must have seen it as a breakthrough. " _No, it's not."_

Shauna spoke through the corner of her mouth. "Serena, your starter's a baby."

Chesnaught stopped whining for a moment, and Froakie called out in agitation.

Imposter raised its arms at the elbows, and seeing this, Froakie stopped. "He's being a whacked-up jerk," he defended. "You're not gonna stand up to him, but somebody's gotta do it."

The Ditto said nothing, just turned its attention to Serena.

"I mean, I guess - this is - probably the best way to solve whatever the problem is," she decided, holding up Chesnaught's Poké Ball.

"Chesnaught, return."

The Pokémon protested, but reluctantly gave in. He turned around sharply as the red beam of energy hit him, stealing another look at Imposter. This time, his dematerializing appearance cut through it.

"There," Serena said. "Anyway, good-good battle. But... I mean, if you're going to train nothing but Ditto, you're going to be able to win by intellect only. Well, that or you'd have to be fantastically lucky."

Imposter was the latter, and while it might not have known this, it got Serena's advice.

"Listen... be honest, did you really beat the Gym Leader?"

It had never meant to say that it did, but detested being put on the spot. It shakily denied it.

Serena sighed. "I got the feeling. She's... quite the person. I know I've never had a battle like the one I had with Valerie!"

"Oh, yeah," Shauna squeaked, "Doesn't she use Fairy-Types?"

"Yeah. Fairy-Types and some - interesting techniques, I'll say."

She scratched the back of her neck, as if she was about to say something. "You know, my middle name is Valorie," she continued. "...But spelled with an 'O'."

"Oh, that's neat," Tierno put in.

"...Hey, I just realized!" Shauna turned to Imposter with a flashy grin. "You can spell 'Imposter' with an 'O' or an 'E' too! Which one is yours, uh... Ditto?"

"'E'?" Froakie repeated. "Wouldn't that be... Impester?"

Then, with a smirk, he called out. "Yeah, that's totally it! Imposter with an 'E'!"

Reluctantly, as it had no other clue, it held up two fingers.

"The second one," interpreted Tierno. "An 'E'?"

It nodded, although unsure.

A weird silence befell the five, which Serena decided to break. "Alright, well, I'm gonna be on my way. Olympia awaits!"

She turned and left, waving back to her friends. "Good luck, you guys."

"You too!" Shauna cooed.

"So." Tierno bit his lip. "Shaunee, did you say you wanted to see the Poké Ball factory?"

"Oh, _yeah!_ That's true. You wanna come, uh... Ditto?"

It was about to give an answer when Froakie cut it off. "You're not doing that," he decided. "Look over there."

Across the way, a tall man was sitting comfortably at an outside café and sipping tea, looking over a menu. Imposter finally recognized him; hanging out with Shauna and Tierno would have to wait.

It gestured this, with Froakie helping out; so the humans said so long and went on their way.

The man was still there. Looking closely, Imposter was almost sure it saw him notice it, out of the corner of his eyes. So it approached.

"You never stepped foot in Laverre City Gym," he observed. "So you are a liar, just like every person in this world. Won't you sit down?"

The man motioned to the metal wire seat in front of him, and Imposter maneuvered itself onto it.

Lysandre placed his teacup on the nearby saucer at steepled his hands. "The truth is that you are a very remarkable trainer," he claimed. "How would you like to work for me?"

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Limber was one of the most last-minute additions to the story, actually. Imposter was always going to be named Imposter, but the Limber Ditto in my playthrough (that stayed on the team) was never nicknamed. Figured, though, if I had one named after one ability, I may as well have one named after the other._


	15. Chapter 15

**So remember when I said I would warn you if the chapter was going to be especially long? This is the longest so far, at almost 5300 words. Featuring another instance of _Imposter_ trying to be a different version of Pokémon X; you'll see what I mean. This is the Valerie Gym battle, after all - what could be weird about that? Enjoy!**

* * *

Imposter blinked.

Work? For Lysandre? Work meant to put in effort to accomplish a task. Lysandre wanted it to do something for him. Why would it want to?

"What you would be doing is simple," Lysandre began. "Every trainer has their reasons - what they want to do in the short time they're on these adventures. What - I wonder - is yours?"

Imposter furrowed its brow. "Ditto," it responded simply, as if he could understand.

Lysandre sat back, gingerly reaching for his tea. "You're doing it for Ditto, then," he interpreted, then tilted a sip into his mouth. "That's good. The Pokémon is the one who wants to go on the journey, and why shouldn't it?"

He gave a semi-confused grimace as he replaced his cup. "More sugar," he mumbled, grabbing a packet and stirring it in. "...Regardless; back to my proposal. Did you know that you're the only trainer in Kalos that I've seen, in all of my travels, that uses Ditto to battle?"

Now that Lysandre said it, Imposter did realize this; it had never seen someone else use them, either, barring Grace. It then wondered what would even happen if it did encounter another Ditto trainer; it knew they could not Transform into each other, so would the battle be a stalemate?

"That's why I find your adventure so interesting. If you would just continue with what you're doing, keeping in mind that you'd report on your experiences to me by the end... you would be compensated."

Imposter, by Lysandre's tone, inferred that this was a good thing. All it had to do was continue? That was easy enough.

"When you are ready, I want you to come to Lysandre Labs in Lumiose City. Not today. I am a patient man, and in fact, very busy. But I wanted to have this conversation with you, so here I am now."

During this spiel, he was seen scribbling something on a thin slip of paper, which he then placed on the table with a handful of prize money. With this, he stood, reminding onlookers of his remarkable height, and excused himself.

"That is all. Remember, I'll be checking in now and then. Au revoir." He then stalked off towards the Poké Ball factory, to be forgotten until the next reminder.

This came more quickly than normal, from Froakie. "Man, you don't thank him?"

Imposter looked down at the small Pokémon. He continued, "Look, he just said he'll start _paying_ you, just to let him see how your journey's doing. Man must be a philanthropist, don't you think?"

A pause; "A humanitarian, I mean," explained Froakie. "Generous. A do-gooder. Who just wants to help people."

"He seems nice," Imposter agreed, albeit confused with the point of it all.

"Anyway, we must owe him one now. When we see him again you oughta be ready to do whatever it is he wants, y'hear?"

"I hear. Hey, you want to do the Gym?"

Froakie looked at it, surprised. "That was a random idea," he observed. "And you know, I like it!"

* * *

It was the building fitted into the tree in the center of the town, Imposter remembered.

It was closed.

"Sorry," the Mr. Clyde at the entrance explained, locking up. "Gym Leader went home. No more challenges today."

That was fine. It would find somewhere to camp out and try tomorrow.

(Upon Froakie's insistence not to sleep outside again, it found the local hotel and grabbed a room instead.)

Neither was tired, however; Imposter had slept late that morning, and Froakie had generally lounged all day during its "important but unimpressive" battles. The result was a couple of unsupervised Pokémon cooped up in a hotel room with nothing to do and all night not to do it.

Froakie wiggled his behind and clambered up into the bed, where Imposter, deformed, was making decent progress on a Sitrus Berry. "Whatcha-"

The Ditto knew what was about to happen, and had already pulled one out of its bag for him. "Gee, ya didn't have to," Froakie said, but took it anyway and made a show of gobbling it up. He wiped his mouth. "So we're pretty far from Vaniville Town, huh?"

Imposter stared ahead. "Are we? I don't really know."

"Oh, we're clear on the other side of Kalos. Wonder how - what's your trainer's name again?"

It turned towards him. "No, no; I know what you're gonna say, and I meant the human you live with. That chick. Gracia? Graciela?"

"Just Grace," Imposter mused. "Legendary Ditto trainer who's travelled the world looking for the best, as a hobby. Limber's from a place called Johto; the rest of the party are mostly Hoennites, I think."

"You don't even know?"

"I never really asked."

Froakie nodded in its direction. "And you? Did you come from some faraway land I've never heard of?"

Imposter's top shifted, as if trying to shake a head. "No, I'm from here. Somewhere in eastern Kalos, that's what she told me. But I've been outside the region. I don't remember all that much of it, but Grace took me on an excursion to Unova once. It was a good time. Lots of foreign Pokémon over there, it was the most new forms I've tried since - I'm not even sure."

Froakie scoffed. "Did you turn into people over there, too?"

Imposter thought about it. "I mean, probably. It's sort of my thing."

Froakie rocked back onto the pillow, forelegs behind his head. "You know, I'd underestimated you. Like, when we started out, I thought this was going to last maybe an hour. And here we are in Laverre City, waiting on your sixth Gym badge! Who'da thought it?"

"I dunno, I-I guess I'm just going with the flow here. Serena got so excited about this Pokémon League thing, and I thought that was just what humans do. So here we are."

"Hm."

Imposter swatted around the core of its berry. "Hey, wanna play a game?" Froakie splurted out.

"Uh... sure?"

"Great; give me your Pokédex."

Hesitantly, Imposter did. Froakie scrolled through a few pages before settling on one. "Pancham," he said.

"What?"

"Turn into a Pancham! I wanna see if you can do it without looking!"

"I might've battled one once, there's no way I can do that. _You_ turn into a Pancham."

Froakie stuck out his tongue. "You're no fun."

"And you're no fair, so I guess we're even."

Froakie tossed the Pokédex farther down the bed. "Alright, alright. Guess some people just don't like to show off, huh?"

"While true, that has nothing to do with this conversation."

"'Course it doesn't." Its friend sighed. "But you know what I have been wondering?"

"What's that?"

Froakie sat up. "Just how tall are you?"

The Ditto wobbled, emulating a shrug.

"Because here you are now, shorter than me; but as a human you're like five or six times my size. How does that work? With conservation of mass, and all that?"

"Conservation of what?"

Froakie giggled. "Exactly. My question is, how big or small can you get?"

"Really good Transformers can turn into Wailord," it responded. "Don't ask me to show you... The room couldn't handle it."

Froakie crossed his arms. "And there's a guy at Sycamore's lab who has this Pokémon called Porygon-Z. I don't think it's even made of matter. Could you turn into that?"

"It's a Pokémon, right?"

"It's manmade, but everyone said it was."

"Then yes."

"What about inanimate objects?"

"For the most part, sure."

Then Froakie grimaced, and coughed out his next question. "...Food?"

"Why... are you so interested in all this?"

"C'mon, I hardly know that much about you! I've told you all about me. What's your deal?"

Imposter just looked forward. "I'm just a little Ditto doing what it likes to do," it admitted. "There's not a lot more to it than that."

"...Oh. Well, that's - not really a satisfying answer, you know."

Imposter hiccuped. "I don't quite know what else to say," it admitted. "I don't really have a biological family to speak of. Before Grace's it was just me and some other wild Pokémon I got along well enough with, but they weren't really..." it trailed off. "I don't miss them."

Froakie shuffled.

"After I met Grace it was like Vaniville was always my home. Humans are pretty much the best, you know, and I would hang around them whenever I could. I think they mostly liked me. Then she let me go on this adventure, and I met you." It blinked. "Consider yourself caught up."

Froakie nodded. "Alright."

The two sat around. Imposter closed its eyes meditatively; Froakie started humming.

"I'm cold. Are you cold?" Imposter asked. It then flattened its front into the shape of a tiny quilt, the weaves taking form as Froakie looked on in confusion.

"We're on a bed. There's a blanket right under you that you could've used."

"...Oh, right." And it corrected itself.

"So since you know so much," Froakie began; Imposter sensed the preface was ironic. "...What do humans do at a time like this?"

"Uh..."

A time like what? When there was little to talk about? Imposter would have been content at this point to attempt sleeping, bringing the morning closer. It knew Froakie would be bored with that idea, though, and decided against it.

"Well, they have these moving picture screens... I think they're a form of entertainment, but I've never been particularly impressed by them."

"You mean television," Froakie interpreted. "Yeah, forget about all that. Let's just-"

He stopped when Imposter reached back for its Pokédex. "What are you doing?"

"...What a _Ditto_ do in a time like this." It flipped through a few pages, leaving purple smudges on the screen. "Did you say you wanted to see Pancham?"

The rest of the night was spent fooling around with Transformations, doing impressions and generally having a good time. The Pokémon raided Imposter's reforming stash of berries, and by the time they had sprawled across the bed - berry pits and contents of its bag dotting the scene - the moon had risen high in the Kalos sky and most of Laverre City was already deep in slumber.

* * *

When Imposter woke up, its minds were buzzing. Or, perhaps more accurately, its wings were.

Tentatively it began to slow them down, as it realized it was happening. It tried blinking, in an effort to get used to seeing triple; it did not work, but after some looking around it had successfully located Froakie, who had fallen halfway off the bed.

It had no legs, nor any extremities other than its wings, so it had no choice; if it wanted to move, Imposter would have to do so through Combee's limited flight abilities.

Why had it been Transformed anyway, and of all things, why into this? Then it remembered: Froakie had been curious how it would react to having three minds, but the shift was so complicated that he had passed out by the time was done.

It set itself on the bed, taking a breath. Having three minds was confusing, doubly so having three sets of eyes. Having three intertwining dreams at the same time had made last night one of its less peaceful.

So it deformed, and Imposter's brain - glad it was back in one piece - raced to determine the time. Sun streamed in through the window, and a closer look showed that it was fixed slightly in the west. It had slept late again.

The bed was a mess. Froakie was not a large Pokémon, and Imposter did not remember turning into anything much bigger than a Furfrou, but somehow they had moved around enough that the bedsheets were as disorganized as the items in its bag: spilled about, including some garbage.

It breathed. It wanted to get to the Gym today, but first it would have to do some cleaning.

Halfway through this endeavor, Froakie had rolled over and off the bed entirely, hitting the floor with a _smack._

"I gait bingles and riffies! My ki-" he declared, leaping backwards. "...What just came out of my mouth?"

Imposter let out a snicker. "Goodness, that hurts," continued Froakie. "Wouldn't be so bad if it was Pokémon-sized, but this bed is like twice my height."

"Would you have preferred sleeping outside?"

"...Guess you have me there." He hopped back onto the bed. "What's all that you're working on?"

"Just... getting everything together," it explained. "Then we'll be off to the Gym, huh?"

"No way, before breakfast?" Froakie countered, sitting back and crossing his forelegs.

"After breakfast, then. But today."

"Fair enough."

* * *

The two stood outside Laverre City Gym within a couple of hours. "Now, I know how we feel about trees here," Froakie began, "but you're going to have to promise me we're just going to go in and - hey, wait up!"

Imposter had already stepped forward, leaving its friend to follow after. "Now what have we here?"

"Looks like one'a those dollhouses," Froakie replied. "And a teleport. Two. Guess we just have to pick one and see which is right."

Pick one? But it did not know which would lead to where. What kind of puzzle was this, presenting it with a decision between two equally ambiguous choices?

"Well, there are two of us," Imposter thought aloud. "I take one and you take the other?"

"Split up?" Froakie looked at it as if it had over-Transformed and sprouted another head. "You sure you can handle this without me?"

"What's there to handle? We've done Gyms before. We just need to find a way to the Leader. It will be quicker if we look both ways at the same time, right?"

Froakie squinted. "Your logic is weird," he observed. "But fine. We'll see how this goes, then. Dibs on the right one!"

"But how do you know which one is-" Froakie did not bother to answer its question, instead taking off for the circular device on the right. "Well... in that case, I'll see you hopefully soon."

"Hopefully indeed," Froakie agreed, stepping on. "Good lu-u-uc-k."

Watching its friend dematerialize in front of it gave a surreal feeling; it blanched as it realized it would have to go through the same process.

It cautiously approached the device on the left. Here went nothing.

Its heart jumped as light enveloped it. A second later it was in a completely different room... at a completely different perspective.

It looked itself over. The strap on its bag had fallen to the floor, circling it. It was a Ditto again; apparently teleporting reversed Transformation.

This could be a problem, it realized, as there was a human in the room who had taken notice.

"A Pokémon," her stony voice observed. "Is this your trainer's bag?"

It simply stared up at her, its bottom portion quivering slightly.

"Oh, you're probably scared," the furisode girl assumed. "There must have been a mix-up with the teleport. It happens sometimes, what with having so many in the same place. Valerie will know what to do."

She bent down to its level. "Come with me, we'll find your trainer." She lifted its bag onto her bare shoulder, and cautiously scooped the Ditto up.

It felt uncomfortable in her hands, being lifted so high so quickly. The sharp increase in altitude and the possibility of her clumsily dropping it did not help, either.

Her next sentence reversed its feelings of the situation, however. "I know the way to the Gym Leader."

And so it let this human take it along, carrying its bag for it. This may have been a cheap way to advance straight to the end without having to battle other trainers, but Imposter tended not to mind. It was easier.

A few minutes later it arrived in a room larger than all the others before it, and at the center stood one last furisode girl, her pink, extended sleeves giving her the appearance of a Lurantis.

"...Who goes there..." Her voice was a nearly-inaudible whisper.

"It's me, Kali, Leader Valerie. I've brought this Pokémon... I think it lost its trainer."

"...Oh..." She paused. "...Linnea came in earlier saying the same thing..."

"She did?"

Kali and Imposter scanned the room, finding Froakie in the corner. "Hey, you made it," he cheered. "What, didja know you could get here faster as a Pokémon than if you had to do it Transformed?"

It would have explained, but was cut off. "Huh," Kali said. "These two seem like they know each other. I'll just - leave this little guy and the bag here so they can wait for their trainer together. How's that sound?"

"...Good with me..."

As she spoke, Imposter noticed the Gym Leader's giant pupils. She had not once blinked in the time it had seen her, and was beginning to feel squeamish about it.

"Awright. Well, back to my post for me, then."

The trainer teleported away. Imposter expected Valerie to say something to it, but she just stood there, unblinking. Imposter's own eyes watered thinking about it.

"The teleport un-Transformed me," it rapidly explained to Froakie. "She saw me there before I could do anything about it."

"Ah."

They turned their attention to Valerie, who they would have thought to be a statue had they not heard her speak before. "Creepy, right?"

"Exactly what I was thinking."

Then Froakie asked, "How're you going to battle her?"

"Huh?"

"Well, are you going to just Transform right here in front of her face? You know she's going to find out you're a fake."

"I-" Imposter had not thought of that. "I don't know."

So Froakie tried something out. He leapt up and down: "Hey, lady! D'ya see us? How many fingers'm I holding up?"

"Two."

"Not you, 'Pasta, her."

"Oh."

Froakie stopped and the two reeled back when she closed her eyes. No one said a word, waiting to see what would happen.

A number of seconds passed, and then: "...Has your trainer arrived yet..?"

The Pokémon looked toward each other, and she provided a way of answering. "...Ditto for no; Froakie for yes..."

"What does that mean?" Imposter wondered.

"...Then tell me when they are here..." she requested.

Froakie whispered. "What, do her eyes not work or sumpthin'?"

"Guess not," realized Imposter. "This might be my lucky break, then."

It rummaged through its bag, and before Froakie could protest, turned human then and there. Valerie remained silent.

"Well... guess the trainer she's looking for is technically here now," Froakie decided as Imposter properly fitted on its bag. "Miss Gym Leader, yes, hello; your challenger is here. Open up those eyes, you're really starting to freak us out."

"...Is the trainer here..?"

" _...Yes."_

"...Well, then, trainer..." she began. "...Would you mind telling me your name..?"

Whenever asked this question, Imposter knew to hand over its Trainer Card. It held it out, but Valerie did not accept it.

"...Why don't you speak..?" Her eyes opened at half-mast. "Are you perhaps dumb?"

Froakie called out (" _Ooohhh!"_ ), but was ignored. "...No offense to your intelligence intended..." she went on. "...It is another way of saying mute; are you unable to speak..?"

Imposter grunted yes. "...Then you and I have something in common..."

Imposter and Froakie exchanged confused glances. "...Your voice does not function... My eyes do not function... Yet I am a Gym Leader, and a successful one, and you are a trainer with... how many badges..?"

She rattled off some numbers, Froakie stopping her when she got to five. "...With five badges... So neither of us could be stopped by our misfortunes..."

She shook her head. "...People always ask me how I could be a fashion designer yet unable to see anything, much less discern beauty... I always tell them that if beauty is there, I will sense it... The result... mystical designs no sighted person could think up... Truly, I have been blessed..."

Imposter cringed; it sounded as though she was telling something personal, or special to her, and it was unable to comprehend it.

"...With that..." continued she, "...We must battle..."

But was she not unable to see? Imposter had gained that much from her speech, but not the part where she explained how she could command Pokémon without being able to know what was happening.

She tucked one hand into the other sleeve anyway, withdrawing from it a Poké Ball. "...Now, go on... My Mawile..."

Imposter caught up to the scene and hastily sent out a Ditto, which Transformed immediately. It was fascinated to see how Valerie was going to manage.

 _You are challenged by Leader Valerie!_

Imposter opened its mouth to begin its first command, realizing at the last second that that would be inconsistent with its story. It was unable to come up with a solution to this before a mysterious pink flare erupted in the corner of the room.

It watched, horrified, as the nearby light switch flipped off by itself. The room was now completely enveloped in darkness.

"...This is how I do battle..." the Gym Leader explained. "...You now have to battle in just the same way as I..."

Imposter was half-paying attention, whipping around to try making sense of its surroundings. The room held no windows, and even the teleporter gave off no light.

Behind it, a tiny bit of silver waved down its attention. It spun around; Valerie's Mawile was now giving off a bright neon aura.

Only for a few seconds. She was turning pale gray in a move Imposter recognized as Iron Defense. When she was done, she made a motion of cutting off as if conducting an orchestra, and the light snapped off.

"...I can sense the majesty of Pokémon's moves when in the heat of battle..." Valerie explained. "...This is what I am simulating, and allowing you to see..."

So Mawile would only glow when it was performing an attack - or, in Iron Defense's case, preparing for one. Could it use this to its advantage?

"Ditto... This is going to be hard," it whispered. "Remember where she is? Try using Crunch."

It guessed that Ditto had at least tried; its huge pair of jaws could be heard clapping together onto nothing but air. It did not emit any light.

Valerie hummed. "...This is as much as I have adapted my blindness..." she breathed. "...Just as you have broken through enough to say the name of your Ditto... That Pokémon must mean very much to you..."

Imposter's eyes widened; how did she know the extent of its vocal ability?

"...I've heard much about you, Imposter, from the other Gym Leaders..."

It shook. Humans were talking about it? What were they saying? It remembered it would have to attack. "Ditto, Crunch."

This time, pink spilled into its line of vision, as Mawile recoiled from taking the attack. "...Although..." Valerie continued, "...It would not be fair to rid you of your sight if I could continue commanding my Pokémon vocally... No more talking in this battle, I think..."

This was interesting. Unlike any previous battle it had, that was certain.

Mawile glowed again, this time a darker gray. Ditto seemed to notice; it narrowly avoided the attack, and returned with another Crunch.

Was this in any way beneficial to Valerie? Imposter and its Pokémon could see hers, but Mawile had no way of knowing where Ditto was.

...Right?

Lost in thought, it saw as Mawile landed her first Crunch. Straining its eyes it was possible to see Ditto's startled expression. They went on like that until Ditto was knocked out.

The bag. Ditto's Ball was in there. It hurriedly reached in, called it back, and fumbled for the next.

This happened to be Limber, who took the time to Transform as Mawile set up another Iron Defense. Now both battlers had doubled Defense stats, and Imposter was ready to take advantage of that.

"Crunch, Limber."

Pink flew off of Mawile again, turning red at the flare's floral tips.

 _It's a critical hit!  
_ _Mawile fainted!_

"Yeah, Limber!" Imposter whisper-yelled. "You got this."

"I have no idea what is happening," it responded. "Why is it so dark?"

"Long story. Look, she's sending in another."

"Gym Leader, right?"

"Yeah."

Limber breathed, more heavily than Imposter was used to. "You're doing really well," Imposter told its battler. "Go get em, Ditto."

"I-I'll try!"

That was a better attitude than had recently come out of Limber, pleasing Imposter greatly. It found its arms crossing in satisfaction.

Another burst of light signified Valerie's next Pokémon, whose Light Screen and accompanying saturated pink aura revealed she was a Mr. Mime.

Imposter stepped back, still not used to battling like this. Even in Reflection Cave, light would stream in from cracks in the ceiling and it could see very well compared to now. Another step backwards, and relief came in a bright pillar rising around it.

The teleporter. It had warped out of the room. "Shoot," it spat, although the situation was slightly funny. It smacked the ground underneath, trying to reactivate the device.

It worked - it found itself back in the dark room again, and all it had to do was Transform to get back into the swing of things.

It was about to start - or try to, that is - when it saw Limber swiftly knocking its opponent out.

Was that really what had happened - was Limber handling this that well? Even without Imposter there to say what to do, it was able to defeat the enemy in record time.

"Yep, just keep doing that," Imposter recommended. What did Limber need it for?

Valerie's next Pokémon was new to both Ditto. A quadruped that reminded Imposter of Eevee, after instinctively beginning a Transformation. It tended to do that when a new Pokémon was introduced, if it happened to still be in Ditto form.

This time it caught itself when it realized it had very little to work with - it could not see or feel this Pokémon, and had only glanced it for a second. That was fine, as it had no intention to become the opponent at this time, but it did realize that in the dark, becoming human again would be incredibly hard.

None of that was important, it reminded itself. It had a battle to win.

"Imposter, where _is_ he?" Its attention snapped back to Limber. The Pokémon it was battling was nowhere to be found, and had not used a move in an uncomfortable number of seconds.

"I don't know... Do an Iron Defense."

It did, and the opponent took this opportunity to strike. Oh, Imposter got a good look at this Pokémon as it delivered the Dazzling Gleam that knocked Limber against the floor.

"Th-That's gonna be the end of me this battle," Limber announced. "Thanks for letting me try, though."

In truth, Imposter had not even meant to let Limber out, but once it had, Limber had carried almost the whole battle up until that point.

"You did really well," was all Imposter could think to say. "Return."

Limber, still taking the appearance of a Mawile, glowed faintly and did so.

Alright. Back into the bag. Thankfully Imposter had chosen a Ball containing a Ditto at full health, able to battle.

Ditto Transformed; Imposter guessed it did so using the light given off by the pink, highly-decorated evolution of Eevee that it realized it was battling. This one took the attack much better than Limber had, as far as Imposter was aware.

And it had yet to Transform back into its human form; it had the Trainer Card there, but without visual access to the image, that was useless.

"Ditto, use Dazzling Gleam. Keep them up. Don't stop!"

Imposter thought itself a genius: each attack would add another layer of light to the pitch-black room.

Ditto and its attacker were relentless to each other, both exchanging the lightning-fast light eruptions. Vaguely, Imposter began piecing together the picture and felt its most familiar Transformation taking shape.

For the first time in minutes, Valerie gave an indication that she was still there. She just hummed; a second later Imposter had convinced itself that it had imagined this.

 _Ditto fainted!_

Imposter had not even realized how badly it was going for Ditto. It rushed through the last of the Transformation - was it right- or left-handed? - and tossed out the next.

The remaining light from the Dazzling Gleam that knocked the last Ditto out, along with the burst of energy from its Poké Ball, gave Ditto just enough to finish the Transformation.

By that point, Imposter was finished abusing the fact that it could make the room brighter, if only for a few seconds at a time. "Swift," it commanded.

Like with Mawile, the opposing Pokémon shot off a pink blossom of light, tinted red at the tips.

Valerie whispered. "...Thank you, Sylveon... Have a nice rest..."

 _Sylveon fainted!  
_ _You defeated Leader Valerie!_

Imposter grinned in victory, fishing for Ditto's Ball and returning it.

"...I must concede defeat..." Valerie said. The sound of her sleeve flapping signified an arm movement of some kind; from where Imposter could imagine her arm ended, another pink light shot out towards the corner of the room.

Imposter's eyes were unprepared for the overhead light turning back on, its pupils shrinking faster than it thought natural.

"...You did well battling, even in the dark... But you must be wondering..."

She breathed for a few seconds, her eyes held half-opened. "...Magic... That is what I've learned from training these Fairy-Type Pokémon you so masterfully defeated... How I created those colorful illusions..."

She performed a small curtsy, wearing a soft smile. "...Now you have earned your Fairy Badge..."

This she pulled from the sleeve opposite the one in which her Poké Balls were located, and held it out for Imposter to walk up and take.

"...I designed this, too..." she revealed as it came and did so. "...It is so... abstractly captivating, isn't it..?"

Imposter guessed so, as it pinned down the small metal piece into its Trainer Card.

 _Imposter received the Fairy Badge from Valerie!_

"...From all I've heard of the silent Ditto trainer..." she went on, "...I knew this battle would be quite fascinating...

"...You surely do have a way with Pokémon, don't you, Imposter..? I'll tell you... I've tried and tried to become closer to my own, because I've always wanted to be a Pokémon myself..."

This was where the hair on Imposter's neck stood up. It would have given anything to have the humanity she had. Why would any human want the opposite? Perhaps in another body she would at least have functional eyesight. Yes, that was probably the only reason she had to cast aside such a gift as her own species.

"...Although, it is a curious thought..."

She dropped her arms and opened her huge eyes wide. Imposter shivered, wishing it was still dark.

"I wonder why I was able to sense _your_ presence during that battle."

The Ditto quivered. "Are you perhaps remarkably attractive? In that case, you may make a suitable model... Perhaps I may create a design inspired by this battle..."

She shook her head. "...It might be a good idea for you to leave now. You have things to do, after all..."

Imposter made a hopefully gracious-sounding noise, and proceeded to walk towards the last teleport in the room.

"Trainer, your Froakie..."

That was right; Froakie. It found him curled up on the floor, dozing. It nudged him with its foot.

Perhaps too hard: "Riffies again," he moaned, clambering to his feet. "What happened? I miss anything?"

"Only my latest Gym victory."

"Oh, wait, you won?" Froakie's eyes were large with curiosity. "Shut up! We gotta celebrate!"

Imposter deadpanned. "We have to leave the building first."

"Sounds like a plan. Leh's go."

"Don't wait up."

The two scrambled to the teleport, ready for anything the adventure was about to throw their way.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Complete honesty here... Up until doing the research for this chapter I had always pronounced Laverre as LAH-ver-ay. Additionally, I am full team ARK-ee-us, team RAHY-koo, and teams Kahy-O-gurr, ROH-tahm, MAYN-foo, Drag-AL-jee, Mar-EE-NEE, and DEL-meez. And Luh-SAHN-dray, although I admit to using LAHY-zan-der sometimes because it sounds humorous._


	16. Chapter 16

**Poké Ball Factory chapter! One of my favorites. Team Flare and some Ditto shenanigans coming up. Let's go!**

* * *

The Poké Ball factory.

That was where Shauna and Trevor had said they were going; it was where, if Imposter had looked up, it would have seen Serena's Charizard descending to a touchdown. There was a commotion around the gates of the building, and where there were lots of humans, Imposter was always eager to make an appearance.

As it approached, however, it noted the one thing that all these people had in common: stark red suits.

Team... Team Fire. No. Something like that. _Flare!_ It was Team Flare! That confusing bunch that stole all its Sitrus Berries! What were they doing in Laverre?

It picked up the pace. Not Laverre. The Poké Ball factory. Why were they here in such large numbers? Were they going to steal from here, too? All the balls in Kalos were created in this building.

It slowed to a stroll. That was right. Its own was probably manufactured right here. It reached down into its bag; there it was, the Premier Ball it called home.

Still walking, it gave the machine a thoughtful stare. It gazed up and down between the capsule and the base that made it, thinking that in some way, things had come full circle.

But now Team Flare was here. Stealing Poké Balls - if that was what they were doing - was robbing wild Pokémon of their chance to meet a human trainer. How could they?

Clutching its Ball, Imposter began sprinting to the loosely-assembled crowd. Froakie's startled cries to wait up were lost to the wind searing past its ears.

True to nature, Imposter tripped over the first grunt it came to. Panic rippled through it. The scene was almost slow-motion, Imposter tumbling to the ground, the grunt's expression of pure shock, its Ball flying out of its hand. Hitting the ground at this speed would surely result in its deforming, if not instant knockout.

And there was its Premier Ball, flying off somewhere it could not reach with its hand...

Imposter was unsure in the split-second it had whether it made the decision consciously or if it was pure instinct not to get hurt, but the moment it would have hit the ground was spent instead dematerializing completely.

It gained a red hue and lost all shape, feeling itself being sucked up backwards into its Ball. Once inside, it had no choice but to brace for the impact of the sphere hitting the ground.

It may have been the suppressed sense of movement available inside a Poké Ball, but it could feel no such collision. Instead, it heard words.

Pokémon did not entirely lose their hearing whilst encapsulated; everything was muffled, but they could often make out their names or commands of their trainers.

"Gotcha..." a voice reaching Imposter was saying. "Th... ...ld Ditto... ...s caught."

* * *

"Abso... ...othing."

Muffled sounds.

"...ust... ...y Pokémon."

Then, more.

"...ack off... ...ould I... ...crets fr... ...andre..."

Any words Imposter could pick up were broken and lacking context. It could not know if a minute had passed, or an hour.

Things were eerily quiet after that. Being so detached from its mind, it found nothing wrong with this, only a weak but unrelenting feeling that it should be doing something.

And so it remained, completely unaware of anything going on in the outside world. Until it felt the nostalgic sensation of being sent out.

It uncurled itself and prepared for a landing - this was a battle, it knew from the start. Battle meant Transforming.

Into what? Its opponent appeared to be a Chesnaught. That it could do.

A shiny Chesnaught, it realized early on. It could do that too.

Say... did it not know a shiny Chesnaught?

Once its eyes fully formed, it checked out the trainer: indeed, this battle was against Serena.

It could not remember the last time it had done any fighting itself, but had recalled that it was substantially good at it. Going from being the trainer to being the trained, however, would take a bit of getting used to.

The first thing it wondered was what Serena was doing here in the first place. The second was why she looked so surprised, and Chesnaught so beat.

The third was, who was commanding it?

It stole a second to glance back; that was all it needed, as even Imposter was able to discern the red-suited grunt behind it.

That was probably bad.

"A Ditto," Serena mumbled. "Hum...

"Wait, is that thing level _fifty-four!?"_

Imposter itself had not been keeping track, but that number felt right. The look on Serena's face showed that this was a surprise.

Chesnaught growled. "Not that much tougher than Olympia's team was, and it's one of these." His eyes connected with his trainer's, apparently enough confirmation to handle it himself. He lunged forward, right arm extended.

Instinctively, Imposter curled up; it was a Chesnaught now, it remembered, and spun to give the opponent its back. His arm came down on a hasty but effective Spiky Shield.

"Yooww..." Chesnaught massaged his hand. Imposter cringed, glared at the grunt trying to command it, and quickly turned to meet Chesnaught's upset expression.

"I never seem to have any luck with these things," he grumbled.

"Chesnaught... I want you to Seed Bomb it instead."

"Ditto, use Spiky Shield again."

 _...No._

It would not. This person was not Grace, nor had it been properly traded to him. Additionally, he was the enemy, so no Spiky Shield. It would do this how it desired.

Unfortunately, this meant receiving a powerful Seed Bomb unprotected.

It had trouble remembering the last time it had taken such a strong move, especially one strong enough to knock the wind from its lungs. It slouched, but was still standing. It could do this.

"Now, Body Slam!"

What Serena probably did not know was that it was well-versed in human enough to know the hit was coming, so it was able to move out of the way fairly easily. Yes; now it was remembering just how much it enjoyed battles.

Out of pure excitement to be back on the battlefield, it turned back towards Chesnaught and fired off a Seed Bomb of its own.

The angry Fighting-Type whipped around, staring it dead in its copied eyes. Its heart skipped, and it watched as, to Serena's orders, Chesnaught propelled itself forward in preparation for another Body Slam.

"You Body Slam too, Ditto!"

It had a better idea, of course. With Chesnaught's current momentum, he would not appreciate a properly-executed Brick Break.

Imposter was right, but the grunt behind it was livid. Serena just looked confused, and Chesnaught looked ready to keel over.

His face... Imposter knew it could not be the only Ditto who tended to feel sorry for its Transformation subjects. There was something about sharing a face that made their expressions reflect onto the Ditto sometimes, and unlike its party, Imposter was out of practice resisting this.

"Chesnaught..." it started to cave, "I-I'm sorry..."

The opponent looked up in pain. "That voice. You - are you who I think you are?"

"Who do you think I am?"

"Chesnaught, Brick Break!"

He drew his arm back in preparation to heed his trainer's orders. "That is you... You scoundrel! I should have known you were working for Team Flare!"

"Working for..? I'm not-"

Chesnaught cut it off when his Brick Break connected. Imposter rolled onto its side, its form somewhat shaking.

It hardly had time to move before the next Brick Break; the grunt called out to use Spiky Shield.

Maybe it would...

It spun onto its back, extending its quills. Chesnaught seemed to see this coming, but in his rage was unable to fully compensate for the maneuver and came down on its shell.

He grunted. "Serena, I'm losing... any restores?"

"Chesnaught, look! It's almost down! And look at you."

Imposter rotated to see that Chesnaught was expelling some kind of green light, different from the kind it remembered seeing in Valerie's Gym. Chesnaught smirked.

"Overgrow," he agreed.

"Now, Seed Bomb it!"

"Ditto, S-Spiky Shield."

Imposter tried bracing itself, but being kept on the floor, it had little time to do so before the attack made contact.

The exploding projectiles caused rippling pain where Imposter was hit; if it were to compare the sensation to what a human would feel, it would suggest a jab to the gut.

That was it; despite being much older and more trained than Chesnaught, it was unable to resist defeat at his surprisingly brown hands.

It let out a breath. As it felt itself returning to its Ball, it remembered that this was a win against Team Flare, and started feeling better.

 _Imposter fainted!_

* * *

Having spent so much time outside of it, Imposter had forgotten how comfortable its Premier Ball was after a tough battle. Being suspended between matter and energy would do wonders for a weathered body.

There was some talking, but most of it was impossible to hear. After a bit, the Ball heaved and bounded along, jumping from one position to another. If it was feeling any healthier, perhaps Imposter would have popped out to see what was happening.

It did not make this decision until it heard Froakie's voice: "'Pasta, we g... on... ...otta g..."

But that was Froakie for sure. Summoning all the energy it could, it burst open and took shape.

"What happened?" Its voice dripped with worry. "What's going-?"

It stopped when it felt itself being picked up, apparently by a human. Its heart plunged when it saw who this was.

Thinking quickly, it tried to fling itself out of the Team Flare grunt's hands. The person was too quick, however, and somehow knew how to catch it every time.

"Imposter-" the grunt was saying, "Imposter!"

"Stop, you," agreed Froakie. "Calm down a sec, and listen."

Confusion settled in. Why was Froakie being so calm about this?

"We have to get out of here," the grunt said, removing their glasses to reveal two tiny, black, pit-like like eyes.

"Limber?"

It nodded in confirmation. "I was able to convince that guy to hand you over, but he's going to come back. Where'd your Ball go?"

Froakie spotted it nearby on the floor, leapt over, and clutched the device to his chest. "You got yours?"

"In my pocket," Limber said.

"Then we have to _go._ "

Without asking Imposter's opinion, Limber replaced its glasses and sprinted towards the exit, holding its friend tight. Imposter was briefly able to see people by peering out from behind Limber's body: Serena, leading her Pokémon in a charge on the evil organization, and various red- or white-suited people rushing in to stop them.

Her face showed conviction, but under it, intense fear.

Imposter curled up into Limber's chest.

* * *

Within a few minutes, the three Pokémon were safely outside the Poké Ball factory and in the nearby woods, where the bag and the rest of the party inside it were waiting.

Limber tumbled to its knees, grass stains forming on its flagrant red pants. Alarmed, Imposter hopped down to avoid getting hurt.

Poor Limber was panting. "That... was... wow... and you do that... all the time..?"

"Me?" What did it mean? Imposter hardly ever did things like that. "I mean, running... No, that's really hard."

"I mean-" Limber groaned, extending an arm to the ground to hold itself up. A deep breath, and it slowly started deforming.

Froakie watched with repulsion, and Imposter with pride, as it successfully controlled the process. Its Ultra Ball clattered to the ground, off to the side. Limber still looked exhausted when it was finished, but it also looked relieved.

"I mean," it repeated, "being a human. That was - very - complicated. Bipeds are already tough to pull off, but one that big - how do you handle that?"

Imposter shrugged. "You get used to it. Anyway, you still haven't answered my question - what is going on around here?"

Froakie inhaled. "We rescued you, and now I'm up by one again in saving you from Team Flare." He seemed proud. "See, I don't know why or how, but you thought returning to your Ball in the middle of a Team Flare takeover was a good idea, huh?"

"It was either return, become incapacitated, and blow my cover, or get really hurt, become incapacitated, deform, and blow my cover. You would have done the same."

Coughing into his fist, Froakie continued. "Well, the grunt right next to you saw what was up and stole your Ball out of thin air, before I could get anywhere close. Then he up and shot out of the place, didn't even touch the bag. By the time I got there, I'd lost him completely, and the only thing I could do was make sure it and the party were safe.

"Infiltrating their operation was Limber's idea. It seemed to know something was wrong and came on out to help me; I was ready to march on in there, but it thought it could handle becoming one of them grunts. So we improvised."

"We came in just as Serena beat you," Limber recounted. "Then I'd offered to trade Froakie for you, and I guess he was fed up with you not listening to him, because he agreed."

"But I'm a released little froggy, and I make my own decisions! He had no Ball to keep me in, so it was easy getting away."

"Anyway, you know the rest. Then we ended up back here, and... we should make sure everyone's still accounted for."

The three moved toward the bag, Imposter dictating that everything seemed to be present and unharmed.

"We need to go back."

Limber and Froakie jolted at the abruptness of the statement. "Say what?" spat the latter, while the former's face hardened.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Guys..." Imposter was ready to plead with them. "Did you see Serena's face in there? She was really having trouble, and I don't think she has a lot of help. Other than her team of six, she's in there by herself."

Froakie crossed his forelegs. "Young people take down evil teams by themselves all the time. Ever hear of Dawn?"

"Or Gold," added Limber.

"Or stinkin' _Sun._ He got two in one go. This may be Serena's time to join them."

Imposter looked down. "I-I knew that expression though. You think none of those people had any help at all?"

The two were quiet for a few seconds, as if thinking it over. "I don't want you to get hurt again," Limber admitted.

"I appreciate that," returned Imposter, "but this one time was just a fluke. When else have we really been in trouble with these guys?"

"Route Thirteen," Froakie reminded it. "They took everything. We're lucky that VW guy showed up, or else we never would have seen _it_ again."

With this, he stuck a thumb out in Limber's direction.

The two Ditto locked eyes. "If you're really sure," Limber decided, "then there's no stopping you. But you need to be extremely careful, you got that?"

Imposter nodded blindly. "And I'm going to need you to do your best as well. Before you say anything else... I want you to know that I wouldn't be able to run half the distance you did. That was very impressive."

Limber's mouth formed a straight line. "T-Thanks."

"...Okay." Imposter took a deep breath, then sped to where Limber's Ball had rolled onto some sticks. "Froakie, I'm going to need an Oran Berry, and Limber..."

The Ditto looked up, and Imposter held its Ball in place.

"...Return."

Limber nodded, mouthed "Good luck," and did so.

Imposter smiled fondly as the contraption clicked shut. "All right," it began, gingerly placing the Ball in its bag and accepting its berry.

"You ready?"

Froakie seemed reluctant at first, but ended up giving in. "Let's storm this castle."

* * *

The tough part of pulling off a disguise as a Team Flare grunt was that they tended not to wear bags like the one Imposter needed to have at all times. A brief period of peoplewatching, however, showed that some females were carrying purses; logic convinced the Ditto to go for one of those.

Imposter was no stranger to either human gender, but being so used to its usual height made adjusting a tad harder. Nonetheless, it pulled through, and Froakie seemed to approve.

The bag was heavier the way women held it, resting on the outside shoulder without support from the back. Thus, walking was impaired; its already unsteady steps were amplified to the point of clumsiness.

For this reason, it took a bit of time to walk around in order to find Serena. When it did, it was by way of sound, rather than sight.

"You'll never get away with this!" Serena's voice came, from inside a storage room. "You've got no right to those Poké Balls. You can pay for them like everybody else!"

Imposter's hand was already on the door handle, but it was quickly interrupted by Froakie; remembering, it ducked down a short hallway and Transformed into its normal human form.

The bag was much easier to carry now. Imposter's steps were now powerful strides.

It glanced at Froakie for encouragement, hand on the doorknob; steeled its eyes; and burst in.

"Oh," two women facing the entrance chanted simultaneously. Of all of the Team Flare outfits Imposter had seen, these two sported some of the most ridiculous. They reminded it of the scientist Aliana; especially the technological headsets they wore.

Serena spun. "Imposter... what are you doing here..."

It stepped in line with her; a battle had not started yet, but if Imposter knew anything about them, one was about to.

"So we have another taker," one of the scientists observed. "Grand! Imposter, you say? Even grander!"

"Sh-Shut up..." Serena bit her lip. "Are you going to battle us, or what?"

One scientist turned to the other. "Celosia?"

"Bryony?"

"You think now's our chance?"

"Yes, I think that's correct."

"So we'll deal with you lot quickly," they decided, taking a step forward.

Serena and Imposter hurled Balls; no one was surprised by Imposter's choice, it only training Ditto, but Serena was using a Pokémon it had never yet seen.

Vaporeon, she had called him. A Liepard and a Mightyena took the field as well, the former being Ditto's Transformation subject.

"Imposter," Serena snapped, "How bulky is your Ditto, or can you protect it somehow?"

Imposter sent her a confused glance.

She scoffed. "In that case, I'm sorry."

Before the Ditto could ask what that meant, she turned to her Vaporeon and shouted, "Surf!"

The blue evolution of Eevee let out a majestic cry, water starting to flow from all directions off of his body. The speed of this water picked up, starting to lift its wielder off of the floor.

Imposter guessed that if it could see the eyes of the women in front of it, they would express terror. It knew its own did.

Water collected at its feet, not doing any substantial damage, as it was standing behind Vaporeon. All Pokémon in battle, however, were doused - it watched the carnage in shock.

 _A Critical Hit on the opposing Mightyena!_

Vaporeon turned to face his trainer, showing a proud grin.

"Guess all that Amie is paying off, huh?" Serena asked to cheers from her Pokémon.

 _The opposing Liepard fainted!_

 _The opposing Mightyena fainted!_

 _Ditto fainted!_

Serena and Imposter looked each other in the eyes, tuning out the exasperated scientists and their reactions to the fact that they lost so poorly.

"I really didn't mean to, but I didn't want this battle to go bad..." Serena explained. "Vaporeon is one of the only battlers I have that still has something in 'im. I hope you can forgive me?"

But Imposter was more focused on how much it could not do to help. It only came because it knew she would need it, and Ditto's immediate loss to her Vaporeon was testament to how powerless Imposter was to provide it. If anyone should apologize, that would be it.

"...Ditto." It sadly pulled out Ditto's Poké Ball and returned it.

"Y-Yeah, you, too, Vaporeon. Get back here."

"Yeah, alright," he said in a surprisingly calm voice, and did.

"Now - Celosia and Bryony, were they? Would you like to tell us exactly what you're doing here?"

A "Hmph" came out of one of them. A "You already know" came out of the other.

"Then you should also know that you have no business here at all. You should leave!"

One of them shrugged. "Guess we have no choice, huh?"

"M-hm," agreed her partner. "As long as you'll give us just one thing."

Serena rolled her eyes. "What's that."

The two scientists exchanged looks, then rushed Imposter.

It had left the door open, so the two were easily able to push the poor Ditto outside, each taking hold of an arm. Serena gasped, turning to follow as soon as she could.

"We've got it... the boss's going to be so happy."

"What do you figure our raise will be?"

The two women snickered to each other, Serena shouting protests the whole time. One pinned down the struggling Imposter against a wall, while the other addressed the girl.

"And what are you going to do to stop us?" One hand was on her hip; the other was poised mockingly in the air. "Beat our Pokémon? You already did that, sweetie, and how much did that do for you?"

Imposter lurched against Bryony's grip. Its mind raced to think of things it could Transform into to allow it to escape, but it knew doing so would destroy its guise as a human, in front of Serena.

Where was Froakie? He had to be here; he had to do something. He was always doing something.

It could not see much of Serena from where it was pinned against the wall, but she sounded furious. "Why, you - what do you want with him, anyway?"

"It's not what we want," Celosia remarked.

From where she was occupied with Imposter, Bryony finished. "...It's what the boss wants!"

A few Pokémon cries sounded, and Serena yelped some commands. "Aurorus, freeze them!"

The ladies smiled sinisterly. "Can't freeze fire," one said, smug. The other withdrew a small item from the side of her electronic headset.

For its size, no one but a Team Flare member could have guessed that it was a flamethrower, much less one with enough strength to defer Aurorus's Blizzard.

Serena gritted her teeth; "Fine, guess we have to put you out, then. Vaporeon, Surf! Then, Meowstic, use Psychic!"

Imposter's eyes widened as the water shot out at its captors, then started moving as if on its own. The fluid wrapped itself around the two, lifting up so that they were suspended in midair.

The Ditto collapsed to the ground. Catching its breath was nearly impossible; its heart was beating much faster than it knew it could handle. Its body was worn, and all that kept it from deforming was the thought that Serena was still here. Still, it knew its color was fading, and could only hope for now that it was not too obvious.

Meowstic's eyes were rolled back, and her ears, completely unfurled, with the effort required for telekinesis. "Unhand us!" Bryony protested.

"We are just doing our job!"

Serena would not hear them. "No; sh-shut it!" To her side, Aurorus screamed. "If you want to play it that way, why don't you tell me what your _boss_ plans to do with him?"

" _We don't know!"_ They were both bawling. "He would never tell us anything."

"Meowstic."

The water seemed to contract. "Honest, honest," Celosia pled. "Just put us down."

Serena's eyes narrowed. "Promise you'll never lay hands on him again?"

Bryony's head bounced up and down like a ball.

"And the Poké Ball factory?"

"It'll be like we never even came."

"...Good. Meowstic?"

The small Psychic-Type released them, sending the two women and gallons of water to the floor. Imposter shook itself to its knees.

"Now, get out of here," Serena demanded. "I don't want to see you or Team Flare in Laverre City again."

"W-Will do. Let's skeedaddle!"

"Right behind you..!"

The scientists, gathering any grunts they could find, shuffled out of the building. Serena and her Pokémon rushed to Imposter's side.

The Ditto was sitting in a small plash of water leftover from the scientists' trap. It coughed; its jeans were soaked, and as it shook its head, water flew from its hair.

"Uh... Ditto, are you okay?" The human trainer grabbed it by the cheek and searched its eyes for hurt. "You look really - beat up."

That it was: it had fainted once today, and felt as though it was about to again. It shakily answered in the form of an affirmative cry.

"Ugh." Serena inhaled. "They're some real awful people, those Team Flare affiliates. Didn't I tell you not to go anywhere near them?"

She might have; Imposter did not remember. "Either way, I'm glad you're safe," she revealed. Her face convinced Imposter to believe it. The two remained in the water, regaining breath, Imposter's eyes closed, Serena crouching on her toes, Aurorus surveying the damage, Meowstic rubbing up against the trainers, Vaporeon rolling around in the water.

With a sigh, Serena was the first to stand. "Well, they're pulling out of here," she noted, "and we should, too. This place probably won't be safe until the original owners come back and take care of the mess."

She withdrew three Poké Balls, returning the members of her team which were out. She offered a hand up; Imposter gladly took it.

"Are you going to need help getting back to town?" Her face was soft, yet behind that Imposter could feel a sense of impatience. "I'd hate to leave you here if you're that injured."

It politely declined, as it had a feeling she wanted to get back to her quest through Kalos. It had caused her enough trouble just by showing up.

"Well... alright. I guess you do have your Ditto if anything goes wrong," she acquiesced. "But please, if these guys give you any trouble again, ring me on the Holo Caster. I should be able to make it pretty quickly thanks to Charizard."

It nodded, despite not knowing exactly what that meant. "Great, then. See you around? I could understand if you want to check out this factory more, but I think I've had enough of it for one day."

Imposter nodded in agreement, giving a small wave. She started walking away; "Bye, then."

The building was eerily quiet after that, Team Flare having been removed and the factory's employees having fled. So it sat back down in its puddle for a while, recuperating. Water was excellent in helping most Pokémon restore their health.

Water... thinking of water, there was someone it had not heard from in a long time.

Its question from before had never yet been answered: _where was Froakie?_

 _~End of Part Six~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _Many chapters thus far have had some impromptu deviations from what happens in the actual game, to add to the plot. This chapter's was the only one planned out before the writing process had begun._


	17. Chapter 17

"Oh, my _gosh!_ Is he-"

"Woah, dude - th-this is - oh, goodness."

Imposter thought it heard voices, but was unsure of their owners until one of them forced it to awaken.

 _Tierno used Wake-Up Slap!_

Its eyes shot open, and for a second its vision contained a familiar blur before it felt its eyes shifting. After a moment it had realized that, for a split second, it had shown them its Ditto eyes.

Sweat emerged from its pores, further wetting its already drenched body.

"He's alive!" Suddenly it found itself being tightly embraced by who other than Shauna. The contact lasted for longer than Imposter expected; did she not mind getting wet?

Apparently not, for it was Trevor's comment that finally made her pull away. "Hey, where's your Froakie?"

Of course; the revelation that had sent Imposter past the point of exhaustion and made it to rest in this puddle on the ground. Froakie was gone again. That was bad.

"You don't - d-do you even know?"

There was trepidation in Shauna's voice. No; Imposter knew, or at least it could guess who was responsible.

Team Flare, it wanted to say. Team Flare had him. They raided the building. They took it away, and then they took its friend. It considered itself lucky to still have its bag, strewn on the ground next to it, the leather having been worn down by water ever since Serena left.

It sadly shook its head. "Huh," Shauna said. "Well, he might be off doing his own thing. If he's anything like my Braixen, he probably is!"

On the other hand, that was probably true. Imposter got to its feet.

"Well, should we look for him? He couldn't have gotten far," Tierno suggested.

"Yeah, good point." Shauna put a finger to her chin in thought; then: "You know, if it gets to be a problem you could always just return Froakie to his Ball, right?"

Did Shauna not see the Water-Type release himself prior to her first battle with him? Or did she not understand the act?

"Speaking of which!" Trevor piped in, "Look, the Ball production started up again!"

The trainers looked. "Wow, you're right!" Shauna agreed, sporting a grin. "So this is where all the Poké Balls in Kalos come from."

Tierno seemed to be the only one concerned with what the group had walked in on. "Uh, sorry for asking, but - why were you just kinda... laying there in a puddle of water?"

"Dope!" Shauna returned. "Serena told us all about her battle with those bad guys who took over the place. You were there too, weren't you, Imposter?"

It closed its eyes and offered a nod. "W-Was it scary?"

The question came from Trevor, surprisingly interested. It shrugged; it did not remember most of what it felt, only the sensation of being tired.

Hands in its pockets, Imposter made its face serious and directed its gaze to Shauna. "We should leave."

It knew they would not be able to understand. It was a frustrating part of not being a full-time human, but this was a statement it wanted enough to voice that it did not care.

"M-Me?" asked the girl. "Is there something I can..."

At that moment, Imposter must have realized whom it was and what it did in situations like these. This time, nobody questioned its decision to spontaneously walk away.

The three teens followed it out of the factory in silence, save for a "Yeah, this would have been really cool to check out if Team Flare hadn't _ruined_ it," from Shauna.

* * *

There was one checking into the gate from Laverre City to Route Fifteen.

One could not miss her, or any of her kind. Team Flare's members were as garish as they were proud.

That was its only lead, and Imposter was determined not to lose it. Overhead, it spotted some Flying-Types, and if only there were no humans, it could have become one and caught up much faster. Yet it was being followed as much as it was following, and that meant staying human.

"So, a new Route!" Shauna observed. "Can't wait to see what kind of cuties can be found here!"

As chipper as she was, Trevor and Tierno expressed the same general idea. The humans wandered around, occasionally having battles or catching new team members, but mostly staying out of its way.

That was its chance. Once the group was well and busy, it took off.

How Limber had so effortlessly sprinted all the way from the Poké Ball factory to the woods surrounding Laverre, Imposter had no idea. Its comment earlier about its inability to do so was entirely honest.

Naturally it tripped over itself a few times, but its quarry was not getting away. This determined Ditto would follow the oblivious Team Flare grunt all the way to Dendemille Town's Frost Cavern.

* * *

As the name would suggest, the Frost Cavern was remarkably cold. And Imposter, relying on solely its body mass for heat, was feeling its effects.

It always shapeshifted its own clothing, which would carry out the same purpose as any human's would. However, this made it responsible for anything going wrong. If it had forgotten the layer of skin beneath its clothes - which was thin enough to warrant such carelessness, after all - there was little to retain the limited body heat humans gave off.

Imposter was grateful that this time it had not left this step out, but it found itself still frigidly trying to keep on when keeping warm was nearly impossible.

Where were the Ice-Types? It knew that they would be much better-suited for these temperatures, but so far it could see none. The first sight it got of one, it would Transform, no matter who was watching.

The grunt it was following seemed not to mind. She was headed towards the entrance of a cave; while Imposter watched and froze, she strolled into the black darkness.

There was no other choice; it had followed her this far, and Froakie would never forgive it if this was really the way to get him back and it failed.

Its shaking extremities carried it through the entrance, where things were more visible than it had expected. There were trainers, but they seemed preoccupied with their teams and paid Imposter no mind.

Something nudged its foot, which it found to be a Bergmite. Apparently he was part of a whole pack: a few others swarmed around its legs, seeming friendly.

This was its chance. It took a second to shrug off its bag (which landed turbulently on one member of the group), but that was all: it raised its arms as if stretching, letting the Transformation happen. From the ground up this time - its feet melted into goo and fused into each other, all support they provided gone. They hardened quickly into the natural shape of a Bergmite. The rest of its body followed until what was left of its arms slithered into its underside and its vision adjusted.

It was no Skiddo, but Bergmite's resistance to the cold inflamed Imposter's opinion of the species almost immediately. Its subject and his kin gaped in varying emotions at it: some in shock, others disgust, still others awe.

Imposter was surprised and a little disappointed to find that Bergmite's eyesight was even more poor than Ditto's; it seemed clarity had been traded for improved night vision. As it blinked away the blurs, some of the small Pokémon spoke up.

"Wow, what was that?"

"You ever see someone just - did this really happen?"

"Hey, you, tell us what's going on!"

It zoned them out: its priority was recovering ground on the fleeing grunt. A flash of red in the distance grabbed its attention, but it dissipated too quickly to be of any use.

"What, are you not going to talk?"

"What even are you?"

"Ditto," it hastily answered. "I'm a Ditto. We're a species that can turn into pretty much anything..."

Some of the younger ones oohed and ahhed, while it turned to try grabbing its bag.

It had failed to think this one through, it realized soon enough. It could not see the human it had been pursuing all evening, it could not keep up with her on Bergmite's miniscule legs, and there was no way it would be able to carry a bag now. But at least it was not cold.

"You seem mighty stressed," an observative Bergmite pointed out. "Something the matter?"

Would it tell them? What would they know about ill-intentioned humans? Regardless, they may have at least seen her, so there was no harm in asking.

"I'm wondering... Have any humans come in here recently?"

"Oh, real humans you mean? Sure, there are trainers who come in and out of here every day."

"No, I mean - anyone wearing, like, red. You couldn't miss them against this snow."

"Oh, them. Yeah, I think they're new here. You're with them?"

Imposter's eyes narrowed. "Any of you see where they went?"

One stepped up. "You mean you want to go deeper into the cave?" Her voice was raspy and serious. "We never leave the den. It only gets colder the farther you go, and food is more scarce. Whatever you are, you're one of us for right now, and we can't make it very far without getting lost."

They had poor navigational skills? That was no different from how Imposter always was.

"C'mon, you know that isn't true," another said to the speaker. "Chief goes into the cave all the time!"

"Well, Chief isn't here. I say we-"

"Think again."

The group stood alarmed at the new voice, large and deep. It sounded as though its owner would down Graveler for breakfast on a daily basis.

When Imposter turned to get a look at him, it realized that this might be true. For there stood a Pokémon twice the size of the largest Bergmite, and ten times as threatening.

"C-Chief Avalugg!" chanted some of the surrounding Pokémon. "Look, a visitor!"

The leader singled Imposter out easily. His breath crystallized in its face as he spoke: "Who are you, and what business do you have with our clan?"

The Ditto nervously scuttled back. "I'm just passing through, sir. I'm not here to battle, or anything."

Avalugg seemed to accept this, but needed to make sure. "You look exactly like my nephew right there," he observed. "Explain."

Imposter sighed. "I-I'm not really from here; I'm part of a species called Ditto. We can Transform into other kinds of Pokémon. I hope you don't mind, but I was freezing, and I understand Ice-Types don't mind the cold so much. This was the only way I could keep on going."

The chief looked suspicious, as Imposter would likely be in his position. "I can prove it," it added. "Please, watch."

Avalugg slowly lowered himself. Deforming was almost always easier than Transforming, but losing its cold resistance for even a few seconds was enough to stall the process for a moment. It had already committed, though, and Imposter found it had no choice.

The frozen ground was even more icy than it remembered, and it rapidly felt its base going numb. It was shaking violently before the process was even complete.

"N-Now," it pled, "will you let me go? I'm-m looking for s-s-some humans who've been c-causing problems around Kal-K-Kalos for some time now-"

"Team Flare?"

It snapped to attention. "You know them?"

"I hate them." He looked across the group of Bergmite as if preparing thoughts to tell a story, but all Imposter could think about was shifting back. "Listen, take your pick of who and do your thing again. Then you're coming with me."

But Imposter had already started, relief showering over it. It shook itself, just getting used to things again. "Where are we going?"

"I'm going to take you as far as I know. If we find them, you are going to take them out. Understood?"

There was no way of knowing whether it would be able to do so or not, but it was going to accept help wherever it could get it. "I understand. But I'm going to need my bag... Now where is it..."

A sound nearby directed its attention to where the case was dropped, and revealed the small Bergmite rummaging through its contents. "Hey! That's my collection, my friends are in there," it barked, chasing away the intruder.

"Now, treat your fellows with respect," Avalugg demanded. "You won't be seeing me helping someone who won't help my people."

"I'll - figure something out." It was a poor recovery, but it seemed to satisfy the chief.

"Now, on my back." He had tilted sideways so that his flat back became a ramp up which Imposter could climb. It was confusingly easy to do this, but Imposter thought not to question it. Clutching its bag in its mouth seemed to be the only way to get it on; Avalugg's movement had tossed it comfortably on with its owner.

"I have seen one grunt," Avalugg mused. "Intruder had a Frogadier, and that was it. These suckers tend to come underprepared."

This was the name of a Pokémon Imposter did not know, so it was content to give a "Hmm" and let the chief decide where to go.

* * *

It was a bumpy ride, and a slower one than Imposter was hoping, but at a certain point it started to hear humans talking. "Th-In there," it directed its ride. "That sounds like trouble."

The two navigated through a short hall, which cleared out into a particularly cold section of the cave. Imposter cautiously slid off and hopped over to the entrance.

Indeed, Team Flare was inside. Behind it, Avalugg growled.

"Alright..." Imposter started to explain. "Now I'm about to do something a little - odd; just as a warning, Ditto don't typically do this. But I find a certain charm to it, and it's gotten me this far..."

The last sentence or so had retreated into a whisper, Imposter hesitating. This was going to be cold.

It pinned down its Trainer Card, dragging it onto the ground. Avalugg watched with a judicious eye as it underwent its most frequent change.

It took a deep breath, digging its hands deep into its pockets. The frozen air crashed into its lungs with every breath, chafing at its stamina the whole way.

Now it was almost Avalugg's height; they were only a few inches from being eye-to-eye. He seemed off-put by this development.

It would have to put its bag on, of course, which it did promptly. "So... this is kind of my thing," it found itself obligated to explain, by Agalugg's alarmed expression. "I've be-been able to get everyone to believe I'm a human so far. They'll-ll battle a trainer with six Pokém-mon before they'll take wild ones seriously. Don't know how I got myself caught up with-with these people, but they have a friend of mine. I need to get him back."

Avalugg's eyes widened. "Are you going to be warm enough?"

A glacial pit had been forming in its gut, and it could never be sure the answer to that question. "I don't know," it admitted. "But I've got t-t-to go in there. If somethi-thing goes wrong, would-would you help me?"

Avalugg nodded. "Just make sure nothing goes wrong."

When he said it that simply, it seemed easy enough. Imposter drew another awful breath. "Well - I'll tr-try."

It peeked into the room, where red-suited Flares were surrounding something that looked to be a Pokémon. This was where Imposter forgot its freeze and made its appearance.

If her headset was any indication, the person in charge was another scientist like Celosia and Bryony from the Poké Ball factory. Trouble always seemed to follow an encounter with one of them.

It took a bit for her to notice it, but when she did, she looked ecstatic.

"Ooh, there it is!" she was cheering. "Grunts, the entrance! Get the entrance!"

It spun around to see that three or four of the low-level lackeys were standing at the ready, blocking off any means of escape. It could not even see Avalugg, who was hidden in a shadow by the protrusions in the nearby rock.

"This is it, I've got it! I won!" The scientist placed a finger teasingly on Imposter's nose, reminding it of the cold. "The other scientists and I have been looking all over for you, Pokémon," she explained. "The first one to get you to the boss is going to be _pro-mo-ted!_ "

Her jovial attitude was lost on everyone in the artificial room. The grunts, Imposter, the large Pokémon in the corner, the smaller one poking out behind him...

The latter's face rung somewhat familiar to Imposter, and it recognized that shade of blue anywhere.

"Well, I don't know about _promoted,_ " the scientist went on. "But certainly his new favorite! And to think - Aliana had the Masked Villains working for her, and Celosia and Bryony were working together, but li'l ol' me and my plan for this here Abomasnow were the ones to finally lure you in. How'd I know you'd play the hero card and come looking for _this_ weakling?"

She made a sweeping motion with her arm to where Froakie was huddling around the leg of the ice behemoth that seemed to be the subject of Team Flare's appearance here.

"Anyway, that's enough blabbing. Let's take care of you first, then focus on this fool over here," she suggested, referring to the Abomasnow behind her.

She was so... happy, and Imposter had never seen that from someone in Team Flare. Overconfidence - she had that, too - was common amongst leaders of the organization, but not this disarmingly upbeat attitude.

While Imposter was thinking about this, it failed to notice a couple grunts coming up behind it and securing its arms: it was the same tactic the scientist at the Poké Ball factory used, but it had worked then and it was working now.

What had even happened last time that allowed it to escape? Imposter wracked its brain. Serena. She was there, and her scarily strong team was the only reason Bryony and Celosia surrendered.

She was nowhere to be found now, but then, Imposter was a trainer too.

Its bag - that was where the team was, and so far it seemed it was untouched. Summoning all the strength its numbing arms could muster, it shoved off its captors just enough to reach down and pull out a few Balls.

As expected, the Ditto looked confused upon being sent out in multiples, and without instruction on what to use as a subject. "Ab-Abomasnow!" their leader shouted. "Over there! Turn into that, I'm right-t b-behind you!"

It first had to be sure that they were clear, but once it saw them turning, it was eager to follow - but not before hiding its bag between its feet. Team Flare was not going to be getting it this time.

The scientist and surrounding grunts watched in shock. Abomasnow himself seemed unimpressed, and Froakie - Froakie looked too cold to know what was happening.

"Now, no need for all th-that," sputtered the scientist. "If you want to do this with brute force, we'll battle you, sure. But it's going to be tricky, because we need to bring you in alive..."

Imposter roared as an intimidation. "Right, well then, how do you like this?"

 _You are challenged by Team Flare Mable!_

She sent out an Abomasnow's greatest fear: a Fire-Type. A Houndoom, specifically; Imposter had not seen one before, but its instincts kicked in immediately and it knew the quadruple weakness was not going to make this an easy fight.

Imposter was not a strategist; not even close to one. But it was acting as a leader, and its team agreed to look up to it in times of battle. It spewed orders for the team to fend off the Pokémon of the grunts surrounding it and Mable, trying to think on its feet.

Imposter stole a glance at their stoic Transformation subject in the corner, who had yet to say a word. "Are you going to help us?"

"Uh..." he confessed, "I don't really know what's going on right now... What's this feller doing down here?"

He was looking down to where Froakie was clinging onto his leg, and promptly shook him off. Froakie passed out quickly - perhaps due to the cold, or to the impact against the ground - but likely both.

Imposter steeled itself. That was someone it cared about, and he was in trouble. In its distracted state, it failed to notice Houndoom approaching for an attack.

The Foul Play knocked Imposter backwards, but like certain training bags, it bobbed right up again. This momentum carried it forward in a nasty Wood Hammer.

Houndoom flew back, growling the whole time. This distance allowed Imposter to send off an Ice Shard before Houndoom returned with Feint Attack.

Around and behind it, Blizzards were flying and enough roots were planted that the ice underfoot turned bumpy. One Ditto had just defeated a blue Water-Type that reminded it of Froakie; the Pokédex would later reveal that this was the Frogadier Avalugg had mentioned earlier. Suddenly a voice behind it broke out in a scream.

It did not need to look to recognize the voice. "Limber!" Apparently it had taken an Air Cutter from someone's Golbat, and was close to fainting. Imposter sent a look of sheer desperation towards Abomasnow. "Go help it out."

Reluctantly, he did; Imposter knew it needed backup too. Around it, everyone seemed occupied, but there was one Pokémon, it knew...

 _Imposter called for help!_

One large pillar of ice connected with the ground, then another, as a moving glacier strode into the cavern. Chaos met Avalugg like he was a Bug-Type in a tornado.

Mable looked angry. "What a cheap trick, making this two-on-one! You should be ashamed of yourself! Houndoom, take that one out!"

"Avalugg, watch out-" warned Imposter. Houndoom's fiery teeth clamped on one of the Ice-Type's legs in a supereffective Fire Fang.

Avalugg cringed for a moment, but shook the opponent off; Imposter released a Blizzard in Houndoom's direction. He was not fully knocked out until its partner used Avalanche.

Houndoom bounced to the ground, allowing Imposter to finally catch its breath. Mable grasped at her hair. Around them, it seemed each of the Ditto were winning their own battles. Imposter looked just in time to see Limber demolish the opposing Golbat with an Ice Shard.

"No... nonononono!" Mable shouted. "We couldn't have lost! It isn't fair!"

Imposter held its side, where it had received the Feint Attack before. The site was throbbing slightly. It was not ready to go down a third time today.

"Just - whatever! Team Flare, let's beat it! This isn't even worth the promotion."

She and the rest of her grunts returned their Pokémon and bitterly pulled out. "And can we talk about how darn _cold_ it is in this awful place!?"

Her muttering continued loudly as she walked away, echoing off the cave walls. The party had started to regroup, demanding answers: what was Team Flare doing here, who were Avalugg and Abomasnow, where was Serena, could they have a Hyper Potion? But Imposter refused to answer any of these; it had something more important to take care of.

It found its hands too round and useless for picking up anything small, forcing it to turn back into a human. It knelt down beside its fallen comrade and scooped him up; Froakie was freezing, and his body was limp.

This was bad, this was very bad. It held him close to its chest, its heart beating rapidly. They were both frigid, and the presence of so many Ice-Types was only multiplying their pain.

Imposter shifted something in its breast - it realized for a moment that this outfit would contain an undershirt, which it fashioned as quickly as it could. Despite protest from its fingers - pink and difficult to bend - it pulled down its jacket's zipper halfway, placed Froakie in the resulting pouch, and hurriedly zipped everything together.

It could feel Froakie's heart beating faintly. This was better than nothing. He was breathing, too, if the water vapor exiting his mouth was any indication.

It stood up, its legs burning. "We h-have to get out of here," it declared, searching the ground for its bag and hoisting it on. "Avalugg, thank you for ev-erything. You s-saved my hide..."

"And you saved my home," he returned. "You're right. You need to leave if you're going to stay like that. Do you need a ride again?"

"Not a ride," it said with a shiver, "but a guide. I have no idea where we are."

Avalugg looked pensive. "I can help you with that. What about Abomasnow here?"

The full-time in the room looked up. "Me?"

Imposter addressed him first. "Isn't this where you live? Or did Team Flare do something to you?"

"No, I love it here," he returned. "Thanks for visiting. It's never that we get any good battles in this place."

The others gave him a look, wondering how he could possibly see the situation as a good one; he remained oblivious.

"Alright... well, team, you all did fantastic," Imposter continued. "You deserve to take a rest. Return, all of you."

The remaining Ditto looked between themselves. "Imposter, no," Limber objected. "You're going to freeze out here."

It already was; what was their point?

"Yeah, you can't Transform if you're going to keep Froakie like that, can you?" agreed another.

"And look how tired you are, you could end up just like him."

"Give me the Pokédex," one requested. "I'm going to find a nice Fire-Type, and we're all going to keep you warm."

Imposter blushed at their generosity, its face red as a Tamato Berry. It gladly handed over the device.

The party huddled around the one holding it; "Would it be too soon for Houndoom?" one was daring enough to ask.

But that would do just fine, Imposter decided. Four set to work on that, while Imposter took the Pokédex back. It had a special job for Limber.

It showed it the page. "Mm, I think I can do that," Limber said nervously.

Ten minutes later, the eight Pokémon were marching through the Frost Cavern, toasty as they needed to be. Limber, taking the small form of a Fennekin, was perched alongside Froakie in its trainer's jacket, heating them both.

It was a trek, but Avalugg pulled through, and Imposter's team stepped out of the cave to be met with the night sky. Looking up brought visions of stars and snow, and one waning moon. Avalugg and the Bergmite clan said their grateful goodbyes, and the rest continued back to Dendemille Town.

The end to a bad day had finally come, and things just started to look up.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _Fun fact, this is the only chapter not to feature any dialogue from Froakie. Next chapter will be the first time he uses the name 'Imposter' rather than just 'Pasta'._

* * *

 **Sorry for the late upload; having a very busy day today. And I will tell you, just writing this chapter has made me feel cold. Whoo!**


	18. Chapter 18

Imposter had never valued civilization more than upon its arrival in Dendemille Town.

There was no telling how late it was, and navigating the streets in the dark made it too difficult to find anything, but the presence of people was enough to bring its tired spirit back up.

The only building still lit up was the Dendemille Hotel, much to the relief of a certain team of Ditto. All Imposter wanted to do was deform and go to sleep, nestled away in its Ball.

But even as it checked into a room, Froakie's uneven breathing reminded it that it had to keep him warm. In its jacket and under the covers, Imposter would not be comfortable, but at least he would.

Limber, who stayed out when the rest of the party had returned, seemed to take notice. "Imposter," it offered, "let me do it. Fennekin's body heat is much greater than that of a human."

"You want to stay Transformed all night? But aren't you... tired?"

"Not as much as you," it returned. "I can keep this up for long enough; he will be fine in the morning. Go into your Ball. You had a real tough day, and I'm not going to see you sleep Transformed again, not tonight."

Limber's proposal was sound, and Imposter had not the fortitude to resist any temptation at the moment. It would not leave it be before doing one thing first, however.

It reached into its bag. Out came a rectangular canister of a restore that Limber looked unfamiliar with.

"Thanks for all your help, Limber. You deserve this Max Potion."

It shook the container and gave a spray. Limber looked relieved, pleasing its trainer. Imposter allowed the whole thing to empty out before speaking again. "Good night, Limber. Keep him warm for me."

It removed Froakie from its jacket and placed him on the bed's pillow. Limber nodded. "Thanks, I will. Imposter-"

It playfully swatted at its trainer's Premier Ball. "Return."

Imposter did not need to be told twice.

* * *

The button on its Ball was being pushed in, all too soon. It clicked, and the Ditto flew out.

There was Limber, still Transformed from last night. "Look, I think he's going to wake up."

Froakie? It swerved its top to where he was nestled on the pillow, half-covered in blankets. It seemed his front paws were contracting, as if forming fists.

Both Ditto approached, curious. His mouth opened slowly, and he coughed up some bubbles; there was water on the pillow, but no one was bothered at the moment.

"Buddy," Imposter started. "Can you hear me?"

"Imp... is that you?"

Limber placed itself next to him. "Froakie!" Imposter realized it was speaking too loud. "It-It's me. Are you alright?"

"What the heck happened in there?"

His voice was quiet and warranted pity. Imposter and Limber looked to each other.

"It doesn't matter," the latter took over. "What matters is we won, and you're safe... Aren't you?"

"I-" Froakie rolled over and finally opened his eyes. "Eh... F-Fennekin?"

Limber shook its head; "No, it's me. It was so cold in the Frost Cavern, and we needed Fire-Types... You knew this one, right? I can go back if this makes you uncomfortable."

Froakie shivered. "No, you're warm..." It sounded like he was whining, and he turned in towards it.

Imposter giggled. "Looks like you two are getting along," it observed. "What time is it, does anyone know?"

"Sun isn't up yet," Limber answered.

"Huh." If it was being honest, Imposter had to admit it was still remarkably tired; plus, it was the one making the decisions, and it did not figure there would be any objections. "How about... We take a day off today?"

The others looked in its direction. "I mean, we more than deserve it after yesterday. A Gym battle, the Poké Ball factory debacle, then everything in the Frost Cavern - I'm a little fed up with all this Transforming and fainting. We have plenty of prize money left to stay for another night. Takers?"

Froakie grunted his quiet approval, and Limber agreed. "The rest of the party has been kinda hoping we could take a break anyway."

"Then I'm returning again," Imposter decided with a chuckle. "You should probably go back to sleep, too. Glad to see you're doing well, Froke."

"Mm. Dag... nabbit. Darnit darnit darnit."

Now Imposter was confused. "W-What?"

"We're tied again, ain't we? With Team Flare? Saving each other's hides?"

Imposter shook its head. "It's not a competition or anything. They had you, but you're safe here now. Just go back to sleep. Everything's fine."

"Mm..."

On that note, Imposter gave Limber a nod and felt itself dematerializing. At least today would give everyone a chance to catch their breath.

* * *

Had it been anyone else going through what Imposter did the previous day - for example, Serena or any of the other ambitious young trainers destined for excellence - they may have taken the next day to assess their abilities as a team and perhaps begin a more rigorous system of training. To be certain that if any more close calls had occurred, they would be able to handle it. Yet this time it happened to be the Ditto trainer, and it did things a little differently.

The Pokémon hardly saw any sun that day, vegging by themselves in the hotel room. The entire team was out of their Balls for most of the time, and some conducted battles with each other using the data from Imposter's Pokédex. Other than that, the room remained relatively neat: the berry pits were unavoidable, and the bedsheets seemed to get more disheveled as time passed, regardless of their use; but with nothing broken after a full day of being occupied solely by Pokémon, the place could have looked a lot worse.

It was not until the next day that Imposter had even thought about leaving Dendemille. Apparently the party started developing cabin fever after being cooped inside for so long, although Imposter did not see how it was any different from their lives in Vaniville Town. In fact, the only difference was Grace's presence. Without her, lounging all day had lost most of its appeal.

So Imposter checked out of the hotel and started making its way through Route Seventeen. Only one day of recovering from the Frost Cavern, it soon realized, could not have been enough to prepare for the blizzard raging as far as the eye could see.

It had to shield its eyes from the light reflecting from the five-foot wall of snow that it was met with; how, it wondered, did humans ever progress through here? And more importantly, how would it?

Imposter found the answer to both of these questions in the form of a wandering Mamoswine. It did not feel it needed to introduce itself, or even say a word - it was freezing again, and it knew an easy remedy.

It tossed its bag on the ground and instructed Froakie to stay there for a second; this would be quick. It clutched its sides. At least everyone was together now.

Unlike Bergmite, whose very composition made them favor the cold, Mamoswine was covered in the thickest fur Imposter ever had. After a few seconds, it even felt stuffy enough to start sweating.

"Okay." It faced Froakie. "I'm going to need that."

It watched him realize that it was talking about the bag. "Uh, so I'll just... t-there." The small Pokémon had fitted the strap over one of its tusks, and was now shivering rapidly against the snow.

"You clown," laughed Imposter. "You didn't think I could do that myself? I meant get on. It's frigid out there, and you aren't in any shape to-"

He did not wait for Imposter to stop speaking before leaping for the other tusk and nestling into the hair surrounding its mouth. "Y-Yeah, you better believe it. Are we going in there?" He was pointing to the snow.

"That seems to be the way," Imposter replied. "If only you'd had a Poké Ball to return to, you would be able to ride out the cold a lot better."

Although his voice shook, Froakie said, "When you p-put it that way, th-the cold sure is wo-orth it!"

Imposter only shook its head at this. "Suit yourself," it acquiesced, "and hang on tight."

It would not start moving until it felt him do so.

* * *

The snow was difficult to navigate, on the account of that it was higher than Imposter's eye level, but as always, it somehow managed fine. What was unsettling was Froakie's unusual silence. It was not entirely new, for most of yesterday he had spent sleeping and when he was awake, he was much more reserved than normal. Limber suggested it was simply an effect of his unfortunate experience in the Frost Cavern, and Imposter was inclined to believe it, but the Ditto were expecting him to be largely back to normal by the time they resumed their journey. Yet only once had the Water-Type tickled under its whiskers or made fun of its total blindness in the snow.

Eventually they burst out of the mound, and it may have been Imposter's acquired instincts from Mamoswine or the suspicious amount of luck that had taken Imposter this far into its adventure, but Anistar City's gate was standing not ten yards away.

This was exciting! It started bounding towards a few nearby trees, glad it could move more freely now that the snow had cleared. Its movements were jagged and brisk, turning human again and parading back into civilization.

Thankfully, Anistar City was much warmer than Dendemille Town, and stepping into the fresh air it featured had made Imposter feel as though it could do anything.

Even, it would dare to say, a battle. And who but the red-clad trainer making her way eastward would be a better opponent?

It waved gently to her, and it seemed for a second she had caught its eye; then she turned sharply back in the direction she was going, quickening her pace a little.

Confused, Imposter took it upon itself to approach her directly. The moment it tapped her shoulder, her entire figure slouched.

Serena sighed. "...Yes, Imposter?"

It grabbed at the first Poké Ball that it could reach, and she seemed to get the idea.

"A-A battle..." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Imposter, I can't right now. I need to meet the professor at the sundial, and then I'm off to Victory Road - I'm done with my Gym battles and I'm really close to my final League challenge, okay? There's just too much-"

She halted her speech upon reading Imposter's face. It was dejectedly holding the Ball up, shocked and disappointed that anyone would turn down an offer for a battle, especially Serena.

"W-I..." She squinted up at it, then dug around in her bag. "Ugh, curse you, curse you, Imposter. Guess I can use all the training I can get if I want to take on the Elite Four soon, anyway... I'll just have to sweep you."

She was agreeing? This was great! Imposter saw through every trace of annoyance she displayed towards it. Poké Balls flew.

It was Ditto and Aurorus. It was Hidden Power from the latter. It was defeated and replaced; the next Ditto sent out its own Hidden Power.

Serena gasped: Aurorus was bent over panting. "S-Steel? How'd you manage to get so lucky? Aurorus, just keep it up."

Ditto survived this time, and its next move knocked out the opponent rather handily. Serena mumbled. "That was quick...

"Go on, Charizard."

A Power-Up Punch from Charizard, and Imposter's second bit the dust. It sent another, and Serena commanded Fly.

"Follow him!" Imposter chanted. Ditto Transformed rapidly, and took off.

Charizard moved calmly, darting around Ditto until he could not stay airborne.

Ditto nose-dived straight into the red Flying-Type, and both trainers cringed at the impact.

 _It's a critical hit!_

Charizard huffed and shook himself off; Ditto touched down gently. "Now, Aerial Ace."

Imposter's battler followed its orders directly. Charizard fell backwards, landing awkwardly on his wings, and with a groan, he fell unconscious.

Serena tsk-ed. "Charizard, you're better than that," she said, holding up his Ball. "We'll - work on this later. Return."

She uneasily sent out Vaporeon, whom Imposter had itself never battled but had seen in action. This was a Pokémon it could only trust its best with handling.

"Ditto, this isn't going to go well for you," it explained. "Take a break."

Ditto zipped back into its Poké Ball, Imposter exchanging it for Limber.

Serena's face showed confusion at this choice, but she commanded an attack anyway. "Vaporeon, Surf."

Limber's eyes widened as the attack hurtled forward. "Imposter, her? Are you serious?"

This again? Imposter thought it was doing a decent job at getting Limber over its lack of confidence battling. It tried to remind it of this, but the Surf had washed over it and made hearing impossible.

"W-What?"

"I said... Use Transform!"

That was not really true, but it was still in a battle and still needed to give orders.

"Surf again, Vaporeon!"

Like a Deerling caught in headlights, Limber paused mid-Transformation as the water crashed down again. "Limber!" Imposter cried out, not caring how suspicious it must have looked to Serena. She knew it sometimes spoke to its Pokémon. "Limber, are you - listen, you're okay?"

Limber coughed up some water, smoothing out the rest of the Transformation. "I-I'm just fine. Just tell me what to do..."

Imposter grunted. "Uh-huh. Then use Surf right back!"

 _Vaporeon's Water Absorb: It doesn't affect Vaporeon..._

"What!?" Imposter went wide-eyed. "What kind of trick is-"

Serena looked smug. "Vaporeon can turn themselves into water," she explained. "So it just phases through him. Being hit with a Water-Type attack like Surf can even restore his health, if he needs it to."

Imposter just stood there, mouth agape. "Anyway, Vaporeon. Use Aurora Beam for me?"

He did, and Limber stumbled over, helpless. "I-" it coughed again. "Imposter, I couldn't do it..."

"Li... Now, don't say that," Imposter said, concerned. "You put in good work. We'll win this."

"It's a lie," protested Limber as it turned red. "He took no damage, he's unbea..."

The rest of the word was inaudible, as its speaker retreated into its Poké Ball.

 _Limber fainted!_

Imposter sighed and stood up, tilting down the brim of its hat. "Alright, Ditto. Go on, destroy that thing."

"You know I can hear you?" Vaporeon asked; he was ignored. Ditto came out.

"Use Aurora Beam. Don't stop until he's down."

Serena patted her battler. "You get 'em, boy."

The two exchanged moves furiously until at long last, Vaporeon was defeated. Imposter sprayed a Hyper Potion in thanks as Serena sent out her next.

"Go on, Meowstic!"

Okay; this was her third to last, and its second to last. It was still anyone's game, in Imposter's mind.

 _Meowstic used Fake Out!  
_ _Ditto flinched and couldn't move!  
_ _Meowstic used Psychic!  
_ _It's a critical hit!_

"Oh, yeah, good job, Meowstic!" Serena praised. She did not seem to pay any attention to the Ditto panting on the other side of the battlefield.

Imposter finally caught its breath. "It's fine, we can do this," it stated, matter-of-factly. "Ditto, do a Surf."

Meowstic flew backwards, but landed on her feet. "Psychic again," Serena mumbled.

"You want to avoid-"

But it was too late, and Ditto keeled over. Sighing again, Imposter raised its Ball and called it back.

Last one. "Go, Ditto!"

 _Ditto used Fake Out!  
_ _Meowstic flinched and couldn't move!  
_ _Ditto used Shadow Ball!  
_ _It's super effective!  
_ _Meowstic fainted!_

"Hmph." Serena called her Pokémon back. "If that's how you're going to do it."

Then she sent out Absol.

"You know what we're about to do." She smirked. "Too bad that's your last Ditto, huh? Or else you could use Mega Absol again, too!"

The Ditto stood in awe as she raised the Mega Ring high in the sky, the twin stones giving off their matching glows.

"Ditto..." Imposter was whispering, not as a tactical measure, but purely out of fear. "If-If you can, I want to see a real good Moonblast, okay?"

But Serena was too ambitious. "Quick Attack, knock it out."

If not for Absol having Mega-Evolved, Imposter would not have expected the attack to do anywhere near enough damage to take out Ditto in one move. In light of this, it was satisfied with how well its friend was able to take the hit.

"And... now!" it shouted; Ditto was already charging the move.

 _Ditto used Moonblast!  
_ _It's super effective!_

Absol looked genuinely hurt, but the determination to win never left his eyes. "It didn't do enough. Night Slash, Absol!"

"No, Ditto! Another Moonblast, quickly!"

It was to Imposter's immense gratification that Ditto was able to move first. Before his long blade of a horn could come in contact with it, Absol fell to the ground.

By now, Serena was appalled. "Wha-What are you doing? A comeback? When'd you get good enough to come so close to beating me, even after how hard we worked to get to this point?"

Her voice was waning, and something glistened in her eyes. With one arm, she wiped her face off; "I know how much Ditto matters to you, but you're a pretty weird trainer, you know that? Keeping us all back for so long. Breaking Shauna's heart. Why she'd have a crush on someone like you is beyond me. How many times have I saved you from Team Flare, and how many times have you thanked me? It doesn't matter that you don't know how to talk like a person. All you've done is - augh! - remember in Shalour City? You probably don't, but I sure do. Korrina's Gym? Because of you, I had to wait a full _day_ before getting this here Mega Ring.

"And-And I know I shouldn't be talking to you like that, but do you even know how frustrating you are sometimes?" She wiped her eyes again. "And here I am being a sore loser. Let's-" she sniveled. "Let's just finish this."

She took out her last Poké Ball, nodded determinedly at it, and flung it into battle.

Chesnaught materialised in a sparkly, majestic blur. In a snap his eyes were focused on Imposter and its friend.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Serena cut him off.

Her words stung like sharp poison. " _Seed Bomb."_

Imposter was too stunned to give an order of its own, alarming Ditto greatly. The poor battler fell to the ground after the move, unconscious.

"Should teach you," Chesnaught spat. "Mess with Serena again, we'll see how that goes for you."

He turned back to her, and she held his Ball tight. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Return."

This time, Chesnaught would not even look back at Imposter before dematerializing.

Serena exhaled, putting Chesnaught's Ball away. "O-Okay, I didn't mean to blow up at you. We're still a team, you and I and the rest of the gang, but you keep getting in the way all the time... Man, it isn't even your fault, is it? You're so traumatised that you can't even speak, how could I expect you to be on par with the daughter of one of Kalos's C-"

She stopped. "That's - not important. I-I still need to meet the professor! There's a Gym here in Anistar City. Challenge it if you want, just know that I'm going to become Champion myself way before you ever do. The outcome of this battle has nothing to do with it! Good _bye_ , Imposter."

And she strode off without even giving it a chance to return its fallen Ditto.

Even after Imposter checked to be sure he was still there, Froakie was eerily silent.

* * *

To the western side of Anistar City was a sizable river and a balcony overlooking it. Imposter was leaning up against this now, studying the water.

It could Transform into a Water-Type and jump in, and it would enjoy the river much more that way; in fact, there was a Froakie right there that would not be hard to duplicate. But somehow Imposter just was not interested. Its team had been physically healed at the Pokémon Center in town, but it was still feeling something awful.

It felt sick. That was probably it. Was it Pokérus season again? It had just spent a long time in the cold, and being the trainer, could not itself have been given the high-quality medical services available in the Pokémon Center. It closed its eyes, head resting on its arms, resting on the railing. Froakie sat upon its feet, twiddling his thumbs.

Breathing felt good, at least. Maybe a little too good. If not for the approaching human, it might have fallen asleep standing up, right there and then. It could understand if Froakie already had.

"Taking a loss is never easy, is it?" asked a voice that Imposter remembered. It opened its eyes, but did not face him. "But you have never seemed to care as much as you do now. Why is that?"

Froakie leapt off Imposter's feet, causing it to turn. "Dude, it's Lyz! This guy. Man, you came at the right time, my friend."

"You too," Lysandre said, his voice gentle. The Pokémon knew that he could not possibly understand what Froakie was saying, and was simply humoring him.

Imposter stood up straight, adjusting its bag by the strap. It fully remembered this human now as the one it was supposedly working for. "So, have you been using the Holo Caster I gave to you?"

Was it supposed to be? "No; no you haven't." Lysandre had answered himself. Imposter did not question how he knew this. "You know what I asked of you. That I'd like you to come to my lab at some point, to... talk about some things?"

Oh, yes, it did remember this. "Well, I've made up my mind. Soon, Lysandre Labs will be coming out with its greatest new creation... but I'm wondering if we really should be using it. I'm hoping you can give me some of this insight. Now, if you would so please."

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _In its normal human form, Imposter is actually left-handed; when it remembers to be, that is. Me? Almost completely ambidextrous, although I write better with my right. It's much easier to hold the paper that way._


	19. Chapter 19

"No?"

Lysandre's face was unexpectedly hard upon receiving Imposter's answer. Surprised by this reaction, the Ditto took a cautious step backwards. "No? Why would you ever choose not to accept this offer, when you outright agreed to it?" Despite his disappointment, his voice was soft. "I said I would pay you. Does that not matter?"

Froakie tugged at its jeans. "Hey, what the heck are you doing? Th-This could put us on our feet again! Do you know how much two nights in the hotel cost? Not to mention all the restores, and a few things you need to pay Shauna back for-"

"Not right now," Imposter interrupted with a sigh. "I have to think about some things. Plus-" it gestured in the direction of the Gym - "I think we aren't quite done with Anistar City, are we?"

Froakie looked incredulous, but did not continue arguing, so that was Imposter's decision. To make its point clear to Lysandre, it more obviously pointed at the Gym.

Lysandre's eyes widened. "You... You want to stay here," he interpreted. "You're conforming to your own agenda, no matter what I ask of you?"

Yes, that was pretty much the case. It nodded, in spite of Froakie.

Lysandre's mouth became linear. "I see. I was wrong about you, Imposter. I was hoping you were doing all this for a better reason, but it seems you're just helpless and delusional."

Did he know that Imposter would not understand the meaning of that word? It was confused. Did it just make another human angry?

"What a bother," Lysandre continued. "Well, there is another way of paying you that will do just fine for my purposes. Goodbye."

Just like Serena had not a half hour ago, Lysandre turned and left, leaving Imposter more confused with each passing second.

* * *

Eventually, Imposter stepped into the Gym.

That was, it thought it was the Gym. It had the Pokémon League logo out in the front. But once it was inside, the room seemed to be part of a house. Perhaps Mr. Clyde's, as he was the only one inside.

As always, it brushed off his advice and started exploring. There was something to be done in here, apparently.

It only took about another half hour before it stumbled into the exact middle of the room, and everything completely shattered.

It spun around, flabbergasted at the change in scenery. Froakie next to it recoiled; "Whoooah, I'm tripping!"

As if his work was done, Clyde marched out of the door, shutting it tightly behind him.

The room had opened up into an area significantly larger than it was before; it looked like a different dimension. The floor curved around in layers of a globe, and the picture of a night sky complete with constellations resembling Pokémon surrounded it on all sides. Maybe it was tripping.

Then it noticed how to get around in this Gym. Teleporters again. This could be hard. The Gym Leader could be sighted this time.

Imposter quickly learned that not only was this true, but that she also had access to seeing the future. For before it was able to even try the teleporter, a woman exuding great majesty had appeared from it, wearing a giant purple cape matching the starry background to the Gym.

"I'm Olympia," she introduced. "You wish to challenge my Gym. I see your future."

Imposter took a frightened step back. Froakie took a curious step forward.

"The teleporters. You will have trouble with them. So I meet you here." She tossed some purple hair back. "It is only fair. In the spirit of fairness, however, I must..."

She lifted off the ground, something Imposter had seen certain Pokémon do, but never a human. "...Use the team of Pokémon normally reserved for those with seven badges."

Seven? But Imposter had six. How was that fair? Well, it supposed, she had removed the need for it to progress through the Gym. Just like Valerie's furisode girl had, albeit unknowingly. And just like Valerie, Olympia was going to place a handicap on the battle. It glanced to Froakie, looking for confirmation that he was sharing this thought process.

"At this moment, I know the outcome of this battle. You'll see soon enough."

 _You are challenged by Leader Olympia!_

As always, Imposter was ready for the battle, but as always, it did not know what was in store for it. Olympia sent out a Pokémon she called Sigilyph; the Pokédex showed that it had met one before, but it failed to remember the occasion.

Nevertheless, it sent out a Ditto, and the battle started.

This opponent was faster; Sigilyph did not attack, but the psychic aura surrounding her showed the Calm Mind setup she was executing. Imposter would not hesitate, however. It commanded Ditto to throw an Air Slash.

The move did a little to throw off Sigilyph, but the Pokémon hardly stirred. "Now, my Sigilyph," began Olympia, "Air Slash. Put the opponent's futile moves to shame."

Imposter was baffled at the difference in power between this one and its friend's. "Ditto," it called, "Can you - are you okay?"

Ditto shook. "Fine..." it mumbled. "Gym Leader. Strong. Not something I wasn't expecting..."

"In that case, try a Sky Attack!"

Of course, Imposter did not know how the move Sky Attack worked, and its heart jumped when it saw how long it was taking Ditto to charge the move.

"Hm... It does not know what it is doing. Psychic," Olympia commanded. Ditto flew backwards upon taking the attack, but continued charging. "It is nearly done."

Finally, Ditto rebounded and launched forwards in the Sky Attack. This was the first time Sigilyph looked like it was taking damage, and the Ditto relaxed a little.

"Good. C'mon, bud... One more Sky Attack should do it," Imposter decided. "Hang in there for long enough, please!"

Olympia chuckled as Ditto began charging again. "You silly trainer," she started. "Sigilyph... Show them your own. Sky Attack, right now."

Sigilyph was somehow able to release the move immediately after her trainer's command. "Power Herb," she taunted, a second before knocking Ditto to the ground.

Imposter gritted its teeth. "F-Fine," it stuttered. "Ditto, come back."

It sent another, nullifying the advantage Sigilyph had from the Calm Mind she previously used. Ditto took a Psychic, then gave an Air Slash, and Sigilyph fainted.

Olympia sent out a Slowking. Ditto was faster, unsurprisingly; it prepared a Sky Attack (Imposter was becoming more fond of the move as the battle went on), but was unable to finish due to being knocked out by an incoming Ice Beam.

The third Ditto was also the third to last, and this time Imposter decided this would be Limber. After all, Slowking was slow and bulky enough for it to Transform and take any hit relatively well.

"You're good, Limber," it insisted before the battler could object. "Transform."

Surely, it did, and Slowking wound up for another move. As Imposter predicted, Limber took the Power Gem with astonishing expertise.

Then Slowking released another, and Limber began panting. Worried for it, Imposter did too.

"Use-Use Psychic," it ordered. Slowking was hardly shaken. Imposter's tongue snaked its way between its jaws and it bit down.

"Again, Psychic!"

Slowking blinked, then released another Power Gem.

 _Limber fainted!_

Imposter was too frustrated to give its normal pep talk after such a loss, so it raised Limber's Ball and called it back before any words could be exchanged.

Olympia looked deep in thought. "I must commend you. Despite currently losing, you're a good trainer."

Was this just a taunt, or did the Gym Leader truly have judgement good enough to say this with the limited battling she had seen it do? Or were all Leaders obligated to treat their challengers with this respect, regardless of whether they earned it? Korrina did not. It remembered that much from its experience in Shalour.

Imposter sighed, fourth Ditto out. "Psychic," it commanded. "Psychic and don't stop."

Ditto seemed to be trying as hard as it could, but it went down before Slowking started to look tired. Last one. Imposter gave the same order, and Olympia gave Slowking a Hyper Potion. This one went down the same way.

The Gym Leader's feet finally touched down. "I win, although... that does not surprise me much," she said, gently. "Good try; come back soon."

Imposter breathed forcefully from its nose. It returned Ditto to its Ball and walked away without saying a word.

* * *

Of course, Imposter did come back. What else was it to do? Besides, this was the reason it had decided to stay in Anistar City and not to help Lysandre; if it gave up this quickly, it would feel as though it was cheating him.

Olympia's words after each battle stayed in its mind, serving as motivation to keep trying despite all the losses. In Shalour, it was Serena dragging it along and keeping it going; now, it had to find that drive in the cryptic words of the Leader.

"Know that I can see every move that you will use. Use this, and adapt."

"You keep trying, but... it is all for naught if you do not learn and grow."

"Are you so desperate to defeat me that you don't take time to prepare?"

"A good battler is resourceful enough to win, despite troubles."

"Ditto is such a versatile Pokémon. Perhaps too much so..."

It was not until the next day that something disturbed this pattern of losses; this was not a win, but instead, a phone call.

More accurately, a ringing on the Holo Caster. Olympia was poised to throw her Sigilyph's Ball, starting the next battle, when they were interrupted.

"You will indeed find... this battle is the very-" Then each of their devices chirped. "-Wait, hold on a sec."

Olympia reached into a pocket in her cape and withdrew hers, while Imposter felt its own buzzing simultaneously. Curiosity taking it over, it opened up the message.

The two were met with the same image: that of Lysandre, the man known as a friend to Imposter and to most of the rest of the Kalos region.

"Greetings," the hologram began, his face serious and determined.

Froakie hopped onto Imposter's shoulder, looking excited. "Hey, it's Lyz again. Greetings to you, too!"

Lysandre took a breath, and looked down briefly in thought. "This is a message from Team Flare to the entire Kalos region," he continued, and Imposter's face distorted into confusion. "We are going to use the ultimate weapon from three thousand years ago and rid Kalos of the selfish humans plaguing it. To the heroes who wish to stop us, think about what you are protecting. An awful world where nothing is shared and no one is happy?" He shook his head. "To the dear friend and professor who has helped to make this possible, I give my thanks for having known you. To the Pokémon whom I've been following thus far, I want you to know you had the chance to stop this. You were the last hope I've had that humanity was good enough for saving. But you weren't who I thought you were."

Through the hologram, Imposter could see Olympia's eyes flicker to its own. No words could be exchanged, however, before Lysandre's last message.

"To everyone else, everyone outside of Team Flare. I deeply apologize, but this is adieu to you all."

The hologram cut off after that.

Stunned, Imposter stood still for a minute, its mouth slightly unhinged.

Olympia composed herself quickly. "This is... unforeseen," she admitted calmly. "I will defend Anistar. You go: stop Team Flare!"

It had to go? If Team Flare was involved, it wanted to make sure everything was okay. It spun around. The door signalling the exit to the Gym was right there behind it. It sprinted out and into the hot sun, its movements stressed. How would it continue from here?

Froakie's panicking ("Oh gosh oh gosh oh my flabsolutely flying _goodness_ 'Pasta what are we - oh _gosh!_ ") was certainly not helping the mood, but it might have helped with something else.

"Wait, what was that?" Imposter hurriedly asked its friend.

"Oh gosh?"

"After that."

"Oh goodness?"

"No. What did you say before-"

"Oh gosh again?"

Imposter stomped. "No, what kind of goodness. What's your goodness doing?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Never mind! We're flying out of here!"

It did not wait to find a Flying-Type, remembering at the last second that Fearow was registered in its Pokédex. It would invest a few seconds, but no more than that, in ducking behind the Gym for privacy before shakily Transforming.

It was one of the most poorly-executed shifts it ever performed, but it would get them in the air, and that was all that mattered. In its rush, Froakie and its bag were only halfway secured before takeoff.

"Oh gosh," Imposter repeated Froakie's words once they reached a certain altitude. "Where are we even going."

Froakie wailed. "I don't know!"

"Hey, hold on tight. Don't need you falling off - wait, are you crying?"

"I'm-I'm-"

He was crying. Water dripped onto its back. "I'm perspiring through my eyes!"

Imposter nervously caught an updraft. "Breathe, man. We can - this is - just-" Imposter's genuine inability to positively spin the situation showed its direty. It expected to devote today to winning a Gym battle, but instead it had to deal with this.

Before the Pokémon could get too lost, a familiar shade of red caught their eyes. "S-Say, is that-"

"Charizard, yep."

"And on his back?"

"Don't know. Get closer."

Imposter flapped relentlessly, regretting every moment it spent not practicing flight. Slowly the figure cleared.

"Yep, it's Serena," it confirmed. "They're going _really_ fast. Don't know if I can keep up."

By now it was panting. "Imposter, you better stinking keep up," Froakie demanded. "She's gotta know where she's going. She's the hero here, remember? She's going to stop Team Flare. If we're going to be any help, we. Have. To follow her."

Windburn seared at Imposter's eyes, forcing them to water. Its breaths were short.

"Hey, I know you can hear me!" Froakie yelled over the sound of the moving air. "You can't give up now! Matter of fact-"

The next thing Imposter knew, something sharp was pinching it in-between its shoulder blades. It faltered mightily, and if not for a last-second catch, its bag would have fallen off its back and the weight would have sent them plummeting into a nosedive. Serena and Charizard grew increasingly farther away as it fell, Froakie gripping the base of its neck. If he was screaming, Imposter could not hear it over the wind. Its wings hurt like they were struck by a Thunder, but it was alert now.

Only once it was fully back on track would it speak. "Froakie, are you still there!?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't _ever_ do that again! I am _flying!_ "

"I-" Froakie was crying again. "Sorry-"

"Just hold tight. We need to not lose Charizard, remember?"

"Mm-hm."

It slowly caught its breath. A flock of Wingull boasted a higher altitude than they did. It would recover from this. It had to.

Minutes later, to Imposter's immense relief, Charizard slowed and he started coming down for a landing.

Poor Imposter was more than happy to follow. Soon enough it was back on the ground, humaned up, Froakie clinging to its jacket. Its heart dropped, however, when it noticed where it was.

Lumiose City. And Serena was doing nothing more than visiting a red-painted café.

A café. She was ordering a coffee when the region was in serious trouble. And Imposter had followed her all the way from Anistar City to see her do this.

It voiced this frustration, still panting. "This? A random visit to Lumiose is all we - flew all the way here - to see?" it wheezed.

Just before it turned to look for a better plan, something started happening in said café. A huge noise sounded, followed by Serena's voice ("Quickly, Chesnaught! Kalos is in danger and every second is gold!"); smoke erupted from the windows, and a couple of Team Flare Grunts were booking it out the door.

Imposter retracted its previous statement. "Nope. We're definitely in the right place." It gulped. Froakie quivered in its arms.

"Man..." he bawled, "I've never liked this city."

 _~End of Part Seven~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day : Not exclusively for this story, but has anyone noticed that Olympia only speaks in haiku? That's why her dialogue sounded - wonky at times. Anyway, pay attention to her words. There's a clue hidden in them._


	20. Chapter 20

**Oooh boy. You guys ready? Part Eight is about where, ahem, the Dit hits the fan.** **(Not literally, ow!)**

 **Sorry, I was waiting to use that... ^^' On with the chapter.**

* * *

"You're going _in_ there?"

"What choice do we have?" Imposter's voice shook. "Olympia said we needed to stop Team Flare. Besides, Lysandre's the one behind all this, right? I think we can reason with him. Doesn't he like us?"

Froakie balked. "There are so many issues with that suggestion that I don't know where to start."

"I'll take that as a maybe." Adjusting its bag, it marched up to the door. A lump the size of Sinnoh was forming in its throat. "We're totally unprepared for this, aren't we?"

"Yep."

"Yeah. Well, let's go. We've gotta do this."

"You're stalling."

"Absolutely."

With that, Imposter took a few deep breaths, shook its head rapidly, gave itself a slap - this would get it used to its form rather quickly - and wandered into the café before giving itself a chance to think about what it was doing.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the large, rectangular hole in the floor and the stairs leading down into it. The ground story was vacated, so Serena must have already gone down. It may as well follow.

The underground headquarters were filled with brightly-suited Team Flare grunts milling about, the occasional Golbat or Mightyena accompanying them. Imposter gulped. This would be difficult; maybe, if it got the chance to Transform into one-

Its thoughts and feet stopped simultaneously when it noticed the human awaiting it at the bottom of the stairs. Froakie leapt out of its arms in surprise. There he was.

The source of today's confusion and the reason Imposter's team members, anticipating the Gym battle that never came, were anxiously shifting around in their Poké Balls: Lysandre himself.

"You," the man said coldly. "I didn't expect to see you here."

Imposter was silent. Even if it could speak human, it was completely paralyzed from fear.

"You're probably very confused," Lysandre went on. "That Holo Caster message was probably like Dizzy Punch to you. For that, I apologize.

"I really did like you, Imposter." He looked down, eyes closed; it seemed he was unable to even meet Imposter's gaze. "You were different from the humans I'd met that day in Diantha's café. When one of my grunts called saying they saw a teenage boy morph into a Pidgey to save his starter, I knew it had to be the work of a Pokémon. It took little time to connect the dots. There was a Ditto walking our streets, acting as a _human being_. I've pondered why for more sleepless nights than I'd like to say.

"Humans are awful," he admitted quietly. "You're a Pokémon. The purest of beings in this world. Yet you want to join us - why, with everything we've become, would you ever consider, much less _want_ \- to do that? Is there perhaps a hope that we have a little decency as a species - that we can recover from our own greed - enough that something so good as yourself would want to emulate someone so terrible as us? Watching your endeavors has kept that hope alive in me for as long as I've known about you. It's the reason we've waited this long to use the weapon."

Imposter was speechless. Froakie grabbed onto its jeans.

"Now, don't think you were ever Team Flare's main focus. The scientists you've encountered were only trying to bring you to me because they knew of my personal interest. We were working on the weapon the whole time; but if there was anything that could convince me not to use it... that would be you.

"But you betrayed me!" Now Lysandre met Imposter's eyes, fuming. It quickly lost a couple inches of height due to the brief liquefaction of its feet. "The weapon was ready. My ultimate dream was about to unfold. Yet I didn't want to have to use it. I wanted humanity to be worth saving. I needed to know that I was right about you! And you didn't give me that chance!"

He stepped up to Imposter, breathing down its face. "Now I have no reason not to release the legendary Pokémon's energy and wipe the slate clean. Just like my ancestor King AZ did three thousand years ago!"

What weapon? What king? Legendary Pokémon? Imposter was too scared to even try consulting Froakie on anything. It slowly stepped back. Lysandre slipped a hand into one pocket.

"Of course, I can't have you infiltrating my plans now that you know what they are," he continued. "Luckily for both of us, this battle should be over quickly."

Battle? It had to battle him? Imposter would rather run out of the room. In fact, the stairs were right behind it. Doing so would not be hard.

That was what it thought, at least, until it turned around only to collide with a wall of grunts surrounding them. It clumsily hit the floor. Its shape flickered, but still held.

"Like I said, I can't have you going around on your own," Lysandre explained. "It pains me to have to do this, but it isn't as if you will survive the attack anyway, so it's best to be rid of you now."

Where was Serena? Was she not going to stop him? It could not take the chance that she would be unable to, so it had no choice. It had to battle. Lysandre's Mienfoo had already been sent out. It stood up, terrified beyond its wits, but sent out a Ditto anyway.

Okay; it knew High Jump Kick was a powerful move, and decided to lead with that.

Mienfoo recovered in moments, as his trainer called his orders: "Acrobatics."

Poor Ditto's eyes bulged with the move. It fainted before Imposter even got the chance to voice its sorrow. That was right; Acrobatics was a Flying-Type move, supereffective on Fighting-Types. If Korrina had taught it anything, that should have been it.

"Get 'em, Ditto. Acrobatics, now!"

Mienfoo looked worn after receiving the hit, but kept on. He leapt forwards in his own High Jump Kick, which Ditto dodged at the last moment.

Grunts had to dash out of the way as the flying Pokémon crashed into the opposite wall. Embarrassingly, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Imposter, Ditto, and Froakie stole a look at Lysandre as he returned his battler. His teeth were gritted, and his eyes, unforgiving.

The way he threw the next Ball, it looked as though his shoulder might be dislodged. If Imposter tried it, its own probably would be. The Pokémon that emerged was a Murkrow - this one Imposter knew, as they would sometimes flock to Vaniville Town in the winter months. It had many a good memory joining their flock for some practice flying, as long as it was warm enough. Lysandre's looked different from those it knew, however: his crown was ruffled, and his figure was scrawnier. He raised his tail feathers in intimidation.

This was fine. Mienfoo was a Fighting-Type. Murkrow was a Dark-Type. Imposter had the advantage; right?

It tried commanding another High Jump Kick, baffled by how well Murkrow took it - then sliced through with an Aerial Ace. Ditto did not stand a chance.

Lysandre sighed as Imposter sent out its next. "It pains me to do this, of course," he remarked. "The Pokémon you command have never done me any wrong. Their ends should come painlessly, not after being weakened through battle."

Upon hearing this, the Transformed battler eyed Imposter. "Wh-What is he talking about?"

Imposter was too frightened to think about it, much less explain it, so Froakie stepped in. "This guy's a lunatic! He's been playing us all, and now Kalos-"

"Aerial Ace."

That was Imposter, seeing Murkrow coming in close to the distracted Ditto. It gasped, spun and ducked out of the way, landing the Aerial Ace at the last second. Furious, the opponent compensated and hit Ditto with one as well.

"Keep-Keep going," Imposter stuttered. It was too focused on keeping its legs solid to battle correctly, even if it did know how to.

Ditto and Murkrow flew at each other, landing their hits with the precision commonly expected from Flying-Types. A critical hit, and Murkrow went down.

Imposter closed its eyes. This was okay. It was winning. It thought. Whatever Lysandre sent out next could completely turn the battle around. It just had to breathe.

Something in front of it roared, and the Ditto's eyes shot open. Right there was a quadrupedal Fire-Type with a mane almost as majestic as Lysandre's himself. Imposter groaned; how had it even gotten itself into this situation? Why? Was it, the bumbling Ditto trainer, really trying to be Kalos's hero?

As it was pondering this, Lysandre took action. "Pyroar, Hyper Voice."

Imposter instinctively clamped its hands to its ears a second after the opponent followed through. That was it for Ditto. How many did it even have left?

Two, including Limber. There was no question. Whether it was a good battler or not, Imposter needed it by its side, if even for moral support.

Limber hopped out. Almost instantly it knew something was wrong. "Impo... Who is this - where are we?"

To Imposter's chagrin, it turned around. "Is-Is this a battle? What's going-"

Imposter was too focused on Pyroar, who was charging up for a Fire Blast. Eyes widening, it cut its friend off. "Limber, _move!_ "

It was too slow to turn around in time to see the attack coming, and Imposter knew that. Without thinking, it rushed in and swatted Limber out of the way the moment Pyroar released the blast.

The move technically missed, albeit due to an illegal interference by the trainer. Although Limber escaped unscathed, Imposter was now on the ground, having received the brunt of the move. It clenched its fists, trying to pull itself up. A ringing in its ears blocked out most of Limber's frantic worrying, and Lysandre's voice was hardly audible.

"Hmph, good. I've want... ...o that."

It was ready to lose consciousness, if not for a bucketful of water showering over its head. "Don't you go out on me," Froakie demanded. "You stand right the heck up now, y'hear?"

Tears rolled out from Imposter's eyes. But it would stand up; it had to. "Limber," it breathed, "use Transform."

It appeared Limber was already on it. Shakily rising, Imposter looked itself over. The Fire-Type move had almost entirely singed its jacket away, showing its skin in some places through its tattered undershirt. The skin was sheet white, as Imposter never had reason to remember to put keratin in it. Fire Blast; what a move. Of course, that was what it would instruct Limber to use.

Froakie clambered at its feet. He was holding a Hyper Potion that he must have gotten from its bag. "Take it. You look like garbage."

It felt like garbage. It was times like these that it was grateful for Grace teaching it how to use manmade items like potions.

A quick spray-down allowed it to fix its clothes, as well as to see Limber land its hit on Pyroar. As rejuvenating as the medicine was, if there was anything that could make Imposter feel better about this battle, that was it.

Imposter gasped as even this small victory was dashed by Pyroar's next move, a sinister Dark Pulse, knocking out the Pokémon it had hurt itself trying to protect.

It bit down on its tongue so hard that perhaps it would come off.

A lurching in its stomach prevented that, however. Tongues were important, and losing its own could not help matters. So instead it sent in its last battler.

Pyroar used Hyper Voice, taking Ditto down immediately with a well-timed critical hit.

Imposter had lost, its feet wavering. His face steeled, Lysandre called back his Pyroar. "That should show you," he insisted. He turned to his grunts. "Take it to the Masks. They'll know what to do."

Imposter felt a couple pairs of hands grabbing its arms, Froakie mouthing off to them in protest. It was still much too tired to resist. Its vision, blurred by the salty liquid resting in its eyes, was just clear enough to see Lysandre walk away and disappear through a teleporter.

A teleporter... That gave Imposter an idea.

* * *

The exhausted Ditto was content resting its eyes as the grunts carried its limp body along to whomever the so-called "Masks" were. It was waiting for one thing only, and had to save its energy for that.

 _Wwwomp..._

After a few seconds, the sound returned.

 _Wwwomp..._

There was no mistaking it; that was the sound of a teleporter activating. It slowly opened its eyes, glimpsing a couple of grunts stepping up to the device.

"Froakie," it whispered. "Froke, listen to me."

The fearful Water-Type looked up. "I have a plan."

Froakie scooted closer, although it did not need to; the humans could not understand their language anyway. "You know how I deform when I go through a teleport?"

Froakie nodded, slowly.

"That's going to give me just enough time to turn into something else. I would become one of them, but they'd be able to figure me out quickly. I'd be the only one that can't speak human."

It looked ahead and gulped. "So the only choice I have is... I'm going to Transform into you."

Froakie blinked. "Wh-O-Okay..."

Imposter nodded. "They won't know which one I am if neither of us talk, so we'll have to be quiet. All we need to do is get away. You got a move that can help with that?"

Froakie paused. "Double Team?"

Imposter almost whisper-yelled. "You know Double Team? Have you been levelling up this whole time?"

Froakie shrugged.

Imposter looked down, pensive. "Then why... Shouldn't you have evolved already, then?"

Now Froakie was the one looking down, this time in embarrassment. "I... don't know how."

Imposter chuckled. "You're a weird Pokémon, Froakie."

With that, the grunts on either side of it hoisted Imposter onto the teleport.

* * *

 _Wwwomp._

Materializing, Imposter immediately recognized the blurry vision of its natural form. Good. Now, where was Froakie?

 _Wwwomp._

There he was, right on cue. A couple of grunts met its eyes, but it already had a plan. It was funny, Imposter considered; as long as it had known him, it had never once used Froakie as a subject before, although it would admit its curiosity about it. This would be interesting.

It opened its eyes, the process over in a split second. Going quadrupedal after so long would take some adjusting, but it was nothing Imposter was not ready to handle. There would be time to assess this form later. Now it was time to run.

Froakie himself was already Double Teaming, as per his instruction before. It followed quickly, delighting in the confusion written on the grunts' faces.

Tens of Froakie images darted around the corridor; the plan was coming into place nicely, until Imposter remembered something.

Its bag.

"Froakie-" it spat quietly. "I know we're not supposed to talk, but the bag-"

One of the Froakie looked in its direction, then in that of the bag, which was being investigated by a grunt. He quickly gathered a couple illusions and sprayed her with a Water Pulse, then swiftly went in and grabbed the bag.

Imposter was floored for a second how easily Froakie was able to carry it. Days ago, a situation almost identical to this resulted in the two losing the bag because Froakie was not strong enough to take it with him, all the way back at the Lumiose power plant. Imposter had no time to be proud, however, as groups of grunts stood kicking at their illusions and tumbling over each other trying to grab them. The Double Teams were wearing off; Imposter invested a second to use another, then continued leaping away.

Up ahead was a pair of teleporters. Once it reached them, it signalled to Froakie; they would make it look like all the illusions had headed into one, while at the last second, they would shoot down the other. The mass of grunts was too far away to notice them; if the Pokémon were lucky, the grunts would only see the swarm of images and be misled.

The two jumped into their teleport, and found once again that Imposter was a very lucky Ditto.

* * *

"B-Beds?"

Froakie seemed unsure if he was seeing things right, but Imposter saw them too: the whole room was lined with human beds, of all things. Apparently this was some sort of break room for Team Flare members. A couple of them were standing against the wall in the corner, sipping coffees and paying the two Pokémon no mind. Good. Maybe the two would have time for a rest now.

Imposter was not planning on actually going to sleep, but its whole team had been knocked out, and it needed time to recuperate, itself. It and Froakie found a vacant bed and were completely unable to avoid the temptation.

They were only about ten minutes into their power nap when the alarm sounded. This was more than enough time for the team, but being awoken so violently was not something Imposter was ready for.

Its lower half toughened to the hardness of rock, just for a second, its head pounding. "Gosh, what is..."

But Froakie was reacting more intensely. "What is that? What the heck is that?" he panicked. "Did we fall asleep? What's going on?"

"Yes, we did-" Imposter looked nervously around. Red lights were flashing from the ceiling, a human voice accompanying them. The grunts in the room were pouring out quickly, Imposter's chances fading fast. It sprang up, focusing on one of the females.

Unfortunately, it was in an awkward position on the bed, and once the Transformation was finished, it had already fallen halfway off. Froakie snickered at this, not even trying to hide his amusement. Imposter had to admit, despite the pain, it was rather funny, and it needed something to laugh at right now.

It carefully got up. That was right; it had remembered to choose a female, in order to get away with carrying its bag, but it was not as used to their figures and would once again have to get coordinated.

Later, though; now it would have to follow these grunts and see what was happening. Froakie hopped unsurely along.

Standing on a podium above a sea of grunts were the Masked Villains it remembered from the power plant. They took turns speaking, the blue-masked one going first:

"Attention, all members of Team Flare! Attention!"

"The time has come, as you all know, for us to launch the ultimate weapon!"

The grunts cheered, some of them tossing their sunglasses in the air the way Trainer School graduates would their caps. Blue Mask continued.

"However! As expected, there is a trainer trying to stop us. Even Dr. Xerosic was unable to beat her."

"She is undoubtedly on her way to Geosenge Town, where the weapon has recently been unearthed. We and the other admins will be going there to stop her, and anyone else who dares interfere."

"Of course, she's not alone. Pokémon League members and some others have also appeared in Geosenge, and we will be needing reinforcements. Anyone with access to the move Fly, join us over there to deal with the intruders."

"The rest of you, hold down the fort here in Lumiose. That is all."

Grunts clamored amongst themselves. Geosenge Town; that was where they were going. To stop Serena. Imposter was relieved beyond belief that she was not yet captured, but still considered its work to be incomplete. As long as she was fighting Team Flare, it would be, too. So it was going to Geosenge.

It glanced down at Froakie. It seemed he had the same idea.

* * *

Geosenge was not hard to pick out. Imposter admitted to not knowing the town itself very well, but it was the only city in the region with an enormous metal flower in its center.

That was no inaccurate description. This must have been the so-called ultimate weapon about which Lysandre was going on. And of all things, it resembled a flower.

Was it in this town that Serena had once tried to capture Imposter, thinking it a Flabébé, for its trouble picking a flower color? No, that was Shalour; but that had seemed so long ago. How simple being a trainer was back then.

It swooped down out of sight and landed beneath one of the steely gray petals. Froakie climbed off, and it took a moment to breathe. Whatever was coming up ahead, a few things were certain. It would have to battle. It would have to hold form. Depending on how many grunts were coming, maybe it would even have to step in and save Serena. Or anyone else. If anything, Lysandre would probably be there, and it would have to deal with him. Okay. It was Transforming now. Slowly.

Neck. Not quite as long. Wings. Had to become arms. That was always an awkward shift. Feathers. Those would be clothes. The image on its Trainer Card blinked in and out of focus as its eyes turned. The Card was dirtied now, and its face had been slightly worn off. Oh well. Imposter was used to being a human enough that it did not need the more minor details at this point.

Tentatively, it replaced its bag and crawled out. A flash of red and black, different from that found on the Team Flare uniforms, caught its eye.

Serena! It ran up to her, tripping over itself and landing hard on the grass.

"I-Imposter," she wailed, and it stood. "What are you doing here? Well, I guess it's good to see you. I was just in the middle of Victory Road when I got the Holo Caster call. So I've been carrying this whole Team Flare mess by myself, ever since they got the others. Are you-come on, please tell me you're here to help?"

She was making that face it hated again. That face was way too desperate to belong to anyone, especially someone as capable as her. Imposter knew she was always on top of things and virtually unbeatable - had she ever even lost a battle? - but it understood how overwhelming something like this could be for one person, even if it was Serena Valorie W. of Fortree City, Hoenn.

Her hands were gripping its shoulders. It removed them, holding them in its own, and nodded.

She took her hands away, and the Ditto, feeling generous, reached into its bag for some restores. Once both of them had completely healthy teams, she grabbed its wrist and dragged it to one of the large stones characterizing this town.

"Now, I've seen them do something like..." She fingered around for a small outcropping, then pushed it in. To the Pokémon's surprise, the face of the rock dove into the ground, revealing a secret elevator.

Serena motioned forward. "After you."

Imposter gulped and headed in, Froakie at its feet. Serena followed, the door closed, and everything was dark.

Only after they started descending did Imposter remember its nauseous tendencies.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: Yep, I never let Froakie evolve in my playthrough. He (technically she) was the second time I had to choose the Water starter for access to Surf, the first being in a solo run where the Exp. Share was off and it never leveled up aside from the occasional Double Battle. This time, while I did need the Exp. Share, I always kept Froakie from evolving anyway._


	21. Chapter 21

When the elevator doors opened, Imposter's eyes were unprepared; the room into which it opened was large, white, and bright. Serena wasted no time. Against its better judgement, Imposter followed her out towards the back wall, through tens of grunts.

The wall itself was more of a floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking a grim room cut out of the ground. Inside was a contraption Imposter did not know how to describe; at the center was what looked like a tree, albeit a dead one. Humans should know that trees cannot grow underground. True, none of them had ever been one, but even Imposter figured there were alternative ways of discovering that.

Standing in front of the window were the subjects of more immediate interest, especially to Serena. "You," she spat. "I've finally caught up to you. I didn't _want_ to believe that you were the leader of Team Flare, but I knew it from the beginning, Lysandre!"

The orange-haired man bowed his head slightly and turned around to face the intruding trainers. The two humans on either side of him - the Masked Villains, Imposter realized - did the same.

Lysandre's eyebrows furrowed, and he bared his teeth. First, to Serena: "And you've been a thorn in Team Flare's side for too long, girl," he growled. "It will be good to finally be rid of you."

She made a couple fists. "Y-You can't beat me. My team is the best in all of Kalos! If I wasn't here dealing with you, I'd be whacking the Champion's team up in the Pokémon League."

Imposter believed it, although it noticed the nerve in her voice. She could have been as afraid as it was.

Lysandre's eyes narrowed. "You think you can do anything when all your allies failed? Korrina, Wulfric, Diantha... your father even showed his face, and ended up like the rest of them. Locked up under Lysandre Labs deep in the heart of Lumiose City."

The teen next to Imposter inhaled sharply. "Well, I'm still here, aren't I? Besides, I'm not out of allies yet. Right, uh... Ditto?"

Imposter snapped to attention. She was talking to it. Asking for confirmation? It could give that. Valiantly, it nodded.

Lysandre, however, was undeterred. "We'll see for how much longer. Already, the ultimate weapon has emerged and is being charged by the legendary Pokémon's energy. There just aren't enough resources to go around in a world with so many people, and this weapon will fix everything. Everyone remaining will have all they can ever wish. What isn't beautiful about that?"

Serena spluttered. "So a few people might be happy, while everyone else is..." She stopped. "And what about Pokémon?"

Lysandre's eyes closed, slowly, to everyone's discomfort, and to everyone's surprise, small amounts of water poured from them.

Of course, Serena took notice. "Tears... why?"

The man could hardly look up. "Pokémon," he started, "shall no longer exist."

Imposter's blood ran ice cold. Its heart sunk into its knees. Its vision narrowed, and its ears began ringing. Serena had turned sharply to it, alarmed concern on her face. Froakie, on its shoulder, was gripping its neck.

Imposter was a Pokémon. Lysandre knew that. Did he not just say he was looking to end the Ditto and everything it knew, standing right in front of it?

A small, petrified cry was all that had escaped it, and Serena seemed just as speechless. So Lysandre went on.

"Pokémon are some of the greatest beings on this planet. Or, most of them are. But I've recently learned of the _deceit_ of which they are capable."

He was glowering at Imposter now.

"They can be manipulated and used for evil. They will be mistreated. Nothing is beautiful about that."

Then, directly to Imposter: "And you; I thought I was rid of you. You were supposed to be taken care of by these admins at my side." He glared at each of them, eliciting fearful reactions. "What happened?"

They spluttered. "W-We didn't-"

"It was never delivered to us."

"I didn't even know it was here!"

"Silence." Lysandre pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's here now. I'll take care of it. You two handle the girl."

The female cracked her knuckles under their bright red gloves. "Alright, two-on-one. I like our chances." Both walked up in front of Serena, withdrawing Poké Balls.

"Shut up, Sina," she whined. "Stop pretending I don't know who you are, and just battle me already."

The male turned to his partner. "Sina? Do you know a Sina?"

She shrugged. "Never heard of anyone named Sina _or_ Dexio, no way. You must be thinking of someone else."

Serena sent a flat, pleading look to Imposter, who froze with the attention. She then sighed and sent out her Meowstic and Auroras.

Meanwhile, Imposter had Lysandre to deal with. "Did I not take care of you the first time?" he asked through gritted teeth. Apparently not; so Imposter shook its head.

Seeming too angry even to speak, Lysandre started the battle.

The Pokémon he sent out was a Mienshao, the evolution of the Mienfoo he used earlier; Imposter took a note.

"Y-You evolved."

The Mienshao's face lifted just a bit as Imposter's Ditto Transformed, seeming to be intrigued by the opposing trainer.

Imposter was eager to take advantage of this. "M-Meinshao... why are you fighting for him? We're both Pokémon here, and that man is bent on destroying us. Think about what you're doing, please!"

However, Mienshao did not seem convinced. He sat back in his cat stance, hands raised softly, eyes narrowed. He only moved as a result of his trainer's orders. "Acrobatics."

Imposter was terrified. To its right, it saw Serena's Mega Absol Night Slashing her opponent's Alakazam. To its front, it saw its friend fainting before its eyes.

The next two went down in a similar manner. Its tongue was swollen from its having bitten it for so long. "Mienshao, listen to me... He's trying to kill you..."

But Mienshao would not listen. He only stopped moving when Lysandre, apparently tearing again, commanded him to.

"...That's enough," he decided. "I can't keep hurting your Pokémon like this. They don't deserve to be punished for your stubbornness. I forfeit. Mienshao, return."

To Imposter's shock, he pulled out a Ball and called his Pokémon back. At the same time, a Surf from Serena's Vaporeon polished off both of her opponent's teams. "See? Even the two of them together can't beat me," she claimed proudly in Lysandre's direction. "And I'm ready for _you_ whenever."

Red Mask turned to Blue Mask; even behind their costumes, one could see the alarm on their faces. "Golly, we should run," she noted. "Chick did a number on us!"

"That's true!" agreed her partner. "Let's go heal!"

So off they ran, leaving Serena to mumble behind them: "Cowards."

Lysandre wiped his eyes. "The truth is, regardless of the outcome of this battle, my plan is still going to be executed. Try to stop me if you will, but you will meet more opposition than you can handle. I am going to oversee the use of the ultimate weapon. I don't expect to see you two alive again, so... au revoir."

With that, Lysandre followed the Masked Villains down the corridor. Serena bolted up to the window.

"In there, Imposter," she cried. "That has to be the legendary Pokémon."

She looked to her left; "A door. It's the only one here, besides the elevator, so it must take us to that chamber somehow. Here. I have some extra restores, and no one knows what's coming ahead. Let me heal your Ditto, then you're coming to help me, okay?"

Help a human? Of course it wanted to do that. It gratefully handed over its team.

Once she was finished, they headed for the door. Imposter reached up and gave Froakie a couple of reassuring strokes, to try calming him down. If they were going to accomplish anything, they would have to be strong together.

* * *

Hordes of grunts and admins awaited the trainers as they went along, whom they multi battled with the ease Imposter expected to come with Serena's involvement. About halfway through, they were stopped by a familiar voice.

"Uh... Ditto! Serena!"

They spun around to see Shauna running up, her face fearful.

"I want to help you! I ran all the way from Lumiose to here..."

Serena stopped. "Why aren't you with Trevor and Tierno, rescuing the others? Did something happen to them?"

She shook her head. "They're still undetected, I think," she explained. "Clemont saw us trying to get into Lysandre Labs, and decided to help out himself. Once they got the others, I know we were supposed to go to Route Ten, but I got the feeling you would be in trouble out here on your own, Serena. I didn't know if someone like Imposter here would be helping you, and I was worried, so just in case..."

Serena sighed. "Well, thanks for wanting to help," she started. "You have a big heart, girl. But now that you're here, we have to stay together. We'll be safer that way."

Shauna smiled brightly. "Thank you! You two won't regret it."

"Now, we're running," Serena stated. "There will be battles. Try to keep up."

Shauna's face was stern now. "M-hm."

So the three took off, enemies crumbling underneath their might.

Serena's might, Imposter corrected; she was the hero. It ought not to get in the way.

* * *

The trainers came to a locked door, unguarded by the Team Flare workers they had left scattered in their wake. Serena had called out her Chesnaught, who promptly bashed in the locking mechanism, long before Shauna had a chance to inspect it herself.

The trainers stepped into the room, greeted by six more admins - the Masks included - ready to battle. Serena scoffed, looking more prepared than Imposter was certain she was, and eyed her starter.

Shauna, however, seemed unable to handle the pressure. "M-More of these guys?" she cried. "Yeesh, let's get out of here!"

With that, the girl turned tail. Standing in shock, Serena faced Imposter as a couple of the white-suited enemies gave chase.

"Gah, Shauna, run! Great, now I have to go get her. Hold down the fort here, uh... Ditto. If anything happens with the legendary, _tell_ me!"

And she followed her friend out of the chamber, taking two more admins with her, so that only the Masked Villains remained. She shouted backwards, in reference to them, "Don't worry! _They were easy!_ "

"Hah!" Red Mask began, once Serena had completely left. "Easy for her, maybe. But you aren't even a _human._ You ain't got nothing on _us_."

Blue Mask bent slightly at the hips to look Imposter directly in the eyes. "This should be quick. Your friend over there? Was just a warm-up. Now that we're totally on our game, you won't last a second."

Imposter did not need to say anything. It just had to battle, and it was ready.

An Espeon and a Glaceon took the field, followed by two Ditto, who each copied the one in front of them. It was not a style of battle Imposter was used to, but it would have to get used to it soon.

The Masks held hands, striking poses symmetrical to each other with the unoccupied ones, clearly trying to deter Imposter with their teamwork. It had seen them do this before, and it had worked before. It started sweating.

"How to do this," it mumbled, rapidly, "how to do this..."

Shadow Ball? That move stood out to Imposter, as both of its Ditto reported having it. Was that not a move Olympia used? It was! And it was powerful against Psychic-Types, right?

"Ditto," it started, "Shadow Ball on the Espeon."

The two Transformed battlers faced each other, then their trainer. "Wait, which one? Which Dit-"

Their conversation was cut off by the pink one being attacked by its own subject. With a Shadow Ball.

Imposter spluttered. "Both of you! Quickly, before either of you get hit again."

The Ditto charged their moves simultaneously. Espeon's ears folded back in fear.

Both moves connected, leaving the fainted Psychic-Type lying yards away. His trainer gritted his teeth.

"Tss, that was a blow. Get in your Ball, Espeon."

Meanwhile, the Ditto Transformed into him replicated his expression of pain. Whether because of the hit it took before or of its tendency as a Ditto to sympathize with its subject, it mattered not. Its battling partner turned to condemn it for this, but in its distraction, was hit with Glaceon's Shadow Ball.

Imposter raced to keep up with the battle. The battler on its left, the one turned into Espeon, was just barely still standing. On its right, the one turned into Glaceon was panting.

Blue Mask sent out possibly the largest Flying-Type Imposter had ever seen. He wore a flowing blue Scarf, nearly matching the one worn by his trainer. He darted in, used Rock Slide - knocking out the one Transformed into Glaceon immediately - and took a moment to preen his wings. The attack seemed to have missed the Ditto to its left.

Imposter was aghast. It saw this happen before. Certain battles just did not go its way, and it would be swept without the chance to do much of anything; usually this would only happen against Serena or a Gym Leader, but this was a Team Flare battle. Here, there were actually stakes.

"Ditto! P-Psychic!"

 _A critical hit!  
_ _The opposing Glaceon fainted!_

Red Mask scoffed and bit her lip. "...Fine," she spat. She glanced to her partner and his Braviary, then to her opponent and its Ditto. "It's you, Mandibuzz," she decided.

Imposter sent in another Ditto, who promptly turned into Braviary, who promptly knocked out the Ditto Transformed into Espeon with another Rock Slide.

Imposter returned the battler that was knocked out, then turned to the other one, with a glint in its eyes. "You do that too, Ditto," it commanded.

The Rock-Type attack was super effective on both opposing birds, who both writhed in discomfort. Seeing this, Imposter bit its tongue. It knew that sometimes Pokémon got hurt while battling, but of all times to start feeling bad about it, why against a couple of people who truly deserved the loss?

It would not have time to focus on this, though. The Mandibuzz on the other side used Nasty Plot; certain moves it knew would now do double the damage, and Imposter had to be on its toes.

It sent another Ditto, who copied Mandibuzz and her boosts. Barely, Imposter invested a grin. There were perks to being able to Transform in battle, and coming in with beneficial stat changes already in place was one of them.

Blue Mask's face was red with frustration when his Braviary's third Rock Slide missed both opposing Ditto; relief showered over all three of them. Imposter took a breath. It could still win. "Braviary Ditto, Rock Slide again. Mandibuzz Ditto, Air Slash your subject."

Both attacks were carried out flawlessly; their trainer was impressed, remembering then that all of its friends had practice with this. They were all excellent battlers, trained up by the Ditto-exclusive trainer Grace. If there was anything a Ditto could do, one of hers would be able to do it.

Even winning this battle, Imposter assured itself. It had to.

 _The opposing Braviary fainted!  
_ _The opposing Mandibuzz fainted!  
_ _Team Flare Blue Mask sent out Alakazam!  
_ _Team Flare Red Mask sent out Abomasnow!_

Abomasnow's Snow Warning ability activated, and every Pokémon except her braced themselves for the ice balls about to start raining down. She took advantage of this by using Ice Shard on the Ditto Transformed into Mandibuzz.

The hit was super effective, and while Ditto kept flying, Imposter disliked the amount of damage it took. Blue Mask's Alakazam then burst out a Psychic on the other one, battering it forcefully out of the air.

"Ditto," Imposter cried as it tumbled down in front of it. "Are-Are you okay?"

"I'm-" It regained footing. "I can keep trying."

"Good. Please; you're doing so well."

"Move?"

"Same as before. And Mandibuzz Ditto, Dark Pulse on the Alakazam."

Rock Slide hit only the Abomasnow, but Imposter did not mind that. Alakazam was easily taken care of by the Dark Pulse, leaving a frustrated Blue Mask to call him back.

"Gosh dang, why?" he complained. "I'm out. Avenge me, Red!"

Red Mask giggled. "Sure thing. Abomasnow, on the Braviary."

Abomasnow hesitated. "You mean... the big move?"

"What are you waiting for? Now's your chance," her trainer insisted.

Abomasnow shrugged. "Big move it is."

The air around her gleamed white and surrounding Pokémon wondered if the very air itself was freezing. Braviary Ditto looked terrified out of its skull.

Then Abomasnow released the blast, powerful enough that it drove an unprepared Imposter onto its behind.

 _Abomasnow used Sheer Cold!  
_ _It's a One-Hit KO!  
_ _Ditto fainted!_

Panting, Imposter surveyed the carnage once the white air cleared out. Not only had Ditto been knocked unconscious, it had been forced out of its Transformation.

Tears welled up in its eyes as Imposter stared at its friend's tiny, purple, fainted form. Unable to bear the sight, it turned away as it called the battler back.

"Ditto," it wavered, addressing the other one. "Air Slash."

Imposter paid no attention to the delivery of the move. It knew Ditto could handle landing it on its own. Abomasnow's grunts of pain confirmed this.

Imposter was more focused on what it still had to do in order to win. It knew it did not want to send Limber out in such a terrible situation, but it was the last one in the bag. Imposter had no choice. It clutched its friend's Ultra Ball. Here went nothing.

Another Ice Shard from Abomasnow knocked out the Ditto Transformed into Mandibuzz as poor Limber looked around.

"Transform!" Imposter yelled. "I'll explain everything later; this is a battle, Transform!"

Thankfully, it seemed Limber was on top of this: after all, it had been an Abomasnow before, a mere three days ago in the Frost Cavern. Limber finished off the Transformation in record time for a Ditto with its ability, looking ready to do whatever was needed.

Red Mask tapped her lip. "Blizzard," she whispered.

Limber's eyes grew as the opponent, although on her last legs, followed through with the move. Now Limber was almost just as beaten, and it had only just entered battle.

Imposter pled with it. "Please, my friend," it wailed, "please! Use Focus Blast! You hit and we win."

It whispered the next part. "You miss and Kalos loses."

Limber was breathing heavily. "Okay," it decided. "I'll try."

Imposter could see it focus on a small spark of energy between its paws. The beam charged. Abomasnow gulped. Limber released.

The move missed.

Imposter's stomach sunk; its heart jumped.

Abomasnow and her trainer seemed to look Limber up and down. "Yeah, another Ice Shard should KO," the human decided.

The Ditto exchanged glances. Imposter would never forget the look on Limber's face in that instant, and it never wanted to see that look again.

 _Abomasnow used Ice Shard!_

After the hit, Limber cautiously looked up between its raised arms. Imposter beamed.

"Lim, you're still up!" it cheered. It felt Froakie let out a breath on its shoulder. "We can still - just use - I don't even know - Blizzard."

 _Limber used Blizzard!  
_ _The opposing Abomasnow fainted!_

Red Mask stamped her foot and turned around. "It didn't - this is totally - stinkin' Abomasnow - can't even - gaaah! I hate this! Two losses right in a row-?"

She only shut up when her partner placed a blue-gloved hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. At least we bought some time."

She glared at Imposter through her mask. "Alright. Abomasnow, return," she commanded. She did as her trainer asked.

Meanwhile Imposter was staring straight ahead. Had it just - won? It had! It won its first-ever double battle, against a couple of trainers that needed to be taken down.

It looked across at Limber. No, Imposter was wrong: it had not won the battle. Its best friend had. It wanted to run up and clutch Limber tight in celebration, only choosing against it when it remembered how cold it would be as an Abomasnow. Instead Imposter attempted verbal praise.

"Limber, you-"

But Limber was panting. "No..." it heaved. "I missed. That was way too close for me to feel good about it. Impo, I'm going to faint."

Imposter steeled its eyes, holding up the Ultra Ball. "Then, return. I-It's all going to be okay."

Limber whispered "Thanks" and dematerialized. The Masked Villains now held all of Imposter's attention.

"Fine! You beat us fair and square, you obstreperous loser," the female snapped. "But when Lysandre hears about this, oh-ho-ho, you're _in_ for it!"

Imposter gulped. It had not thought of that, but now that she said it, it knew it was true.

"Anyways," the male went on, "We really must be taking our leave now. Wouldn't want to be here when, I dunno, the legendary Pokémon is finished giving us all its energy! That sure would be unpleasant!"

Red Mask laughed. "Sure would! Thing must be _steaming_ furious right now."

That was right; there was a legendary Pokémon here somewhere, apparently. It just barely occurred to the Ditto that that may have been just a ruse to scare it, but just in case they were telling the truth, it would have to remain alert. It turned and watched the two Team Flare Admins book it out of there.

The door shut loudly behind them; it sounded like they were trying to lock the Ditto inside, but Chesnaught had destroyed the lock earlier. Their yells faded and Imposter assumed they had given up.

It faced forward again. In the center of the room was a huge machine, out of which a shriveled figure of a tree appeared. This intrigued the curious Ditto. It hardly remembered to restore the health of its team before stepping forward.

It must not have noticed the tiny switch on the ground before it stepped on it. A loud clicking sound, followed by other mechanical noises, disturbed the otherwise totally silent room.

Imposter and Froakie snapped to meet each other's eyes. They both blanched, and the latter spoke for both of them. "W-What was all-"

He was interrupted by a total blackout, except for a few sparks escaping the machine in front of them.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day: It's June! (Has been for a while, as coincidence would have it.) And as coincidence would keep it,_ Imposter _takes place during the month of June. It's a good month._


	22. Chapter 22

**HELLO ALL! Before the chapter, I have some announcements to make. I understand we left off at an intense point last time, so I'll make this quick. The update schedule for this is changing; instead of Wednesdays and Saturdays, we're going straight Wednesdays from now on. Because believe it or not, _Imposter_ is, as much as I wanted to play it off like it wasn't, a WIP. I know, I know, throw all the Tamato Berries you want, they'll only make me slower! (*ba-dum tss*)**

 **And, because I'm going on vacation, there won't be an update next week either. We'll resume on July twelfth. To make it up to you, I've made this chapter super long. Longer than the last longest chapter, even! Anyway, it's important and climactic, so read it! Why are you still reading this bold, non-story message up here? Read the chapter!**

* * *

Darkness.

Silence.

Fear.

Humidity.

Nausea.

Then, light.

Clicking.

Anticipation.

Life.

Clarity.

But it did not feel good.

Imposter held onto its form for as long as possible, but the recent battle had worn it down so much that upon the blackout, its senses had received too drastic a change in input, and it was not strong enough to keep from collapsing back and deforming.

It would have searched out its bag and tried to human up again, if it could find its Trainer Card, but something was happening in front of it. A blue light was coming out of the withered tree growing in the middle of the room. It and Froakie watched in awe as the light took shape into two lines, crossed perpendicularly against each other, two perfect diagonals.

"An - 'X'?" Froakie whispered. Imposter just stared.

The light grew larger, enveloping the tree. One could hardly see the shriveled plant anymore; Imposter's blurry eyes shrunk down in a Ditto-exclusive kind of squint. Froakie was attempting to shield his eyes using his forelegs, although they were much smaller than any of his facial features and did not end up helping.

After a few seconds the swirling light in the middle of the room burst out, and in the center was no longer the dead tree, but something that looked - alive.

Imposter's eyes grew. Alive. This creature's eyes scanned the room before it burst out of the machine that had been holding it. It landed directly in front of Imposter. Froakie scrambled backwards, but the Ditto was glued in place.

The quadruped standing there gazed at it, and it wobbled in fear. What would it say? What would the creature say? It was a Pokémon, right? Imposter could not even be sure of that.

Wait. It could be sure of that.

It inhaled. Whatever this being was, it was about to become Imposter's newest subject.

Instincts kicked in.

Four bladed legs. A tail. A long neck. The biggest antlers Imposter had ever seen. It copied them all. Its eyes, crossed out in stark 'X' shapes, shot opened. It was done.

The feeling coursing through Imposter was indescribable - unlike anything it had ever felt from becoming anything else; not even a human. It felt powerful, energetic, alive. It saw in sharper color than it had thought possible.

But what _was_ it now? Clearly it was a Pokémon, with a Type and an ability and moves. But what species, it had no idea. Imposter had never seen such an individual.

It gave its head a shake. The antlers atop it were every bit as heavy as it had anticipated they would be. Its legs were thin and difficult to balance on, but it would manage.

As amazed as it was about its new form, and as excited it was to explore it, Imposter was more interested in the Pokémon it had become. The two had locked eyes and each refused to blink. Down below, Froakie had been staring in shock, eyes wide and mouth agape. So Imposter figured it might as well break the silence.

"...Who - are you?" it asked, voice wavering.

The other Pokémon slightly raised its head. In a moment of suspense, it looked as though it was about to speak, and then the lights turned back on.

The Pokémon snapped around, trying to find the source. Finally a voice broke out from overhead.

" _Xerneas!"_

The three turned towards the sound, and standing in the entranceway was the figure of a large human. It took an eerily long time for Imposter to realize that this was Lysandre.

He wore a pair of glasses like the headsets his scientists had, keeping his eyes invisible. Attached to his back was a large mechanical box, out of which sprang three long metal arms ending in machines that resembled Bug-Types.

He paced forward, his right foot connecting with Froakie's side. The man grunted, booted the little Water-Type out of the way, and continued forwards.

"You two are the last Pokémon I want to deal with right now," he spat. "Ditto, you know what you've done wrong. And Xerneas, breaking out of that machine was a huge mistake."

The contraptions on the ends of Lysandre's robot arms started glowing, and he spoke again. "My hatred for you is the blast that shot through the sky and destroyed Geosenge, lowly Ditto," he confessed. "It is the wrath of the greatest fires of the sun, the scorn of the thousands of innocent Pokémon you could have saved, the evils in the world that I am going to eradicate today. Show yourself, you lying coward, who would go so far as to impersonate the _legendary Pokémon_ just to hide from me, a measly human! Rid yourself of that hideous façade and let me obliterate you first, in your own pathetic, true form. Or else-!"

His robot arms took aim. "Or else I will destroy Xerneas, and the world will have one less legend. What do you give, marvelous creature? Life, was it? Ditto, surely you would not want me to end _all_ life on this planet, would you?"

Xerneas - that was the name of the Pokémon into which Imposter had Transformed. And it was the legendary Pokémon. And _it_ , the Ditto realized giddily, was the legendary Pokémon!

That that could be breaking a fundamental rule of the universe did not occur to Imposter, as it was too caught up in the fact that it was currently one of the most powerful beings in existence. Lysandre's threats almost did not matter anymore, it felt so mighty.

Suddenly Xerneas let out a battle cry, shook its head around, and bounded around the room. Dazed, Imposter figured it should follow. Perhaps the legendary had a plan.

Lysandre gritted his teeth. His armlike weapons locked onto Xerneas, seeming ready to fire, but then Imposter ran in front and they directed onto it. This exchange continued for a while until Lysandre decided he had had enough.

He connected eyes with one of the Pokémon, looking certain that he had the correct one, muttered sorrowless goodbyes to the Ditto who had so tormented him, and fired.

Everything that happened next did so quickly. Imposter flew backwards, knocked back off of its razor-thin legs, onto its side.

When the dust cleared, Xerneas's blue fur was singed and matted. It attempted to pick one leg up at a time, but fell down immediately. The legendary Pokémon, with its energy already drained from the machine, had fainted.

That left only Imposter. Shakily, it stood. It would have to do something, but when the full-time legendary was just there lying unconscious on the cold floor, the Ditto was rightly worried about its capacity to make any substantial difference.

Lysandre was now standing over Xerneas where it lay, investigating it. Suddenly he whipped around to face Imposter.

"You!" he snapped. "You deceived me again, and for the last time. Here Kalos's legendary is, defeated, all so you could remain untouched? What kind of hubris does it take to stand back up after that? To try to take me on when the mighty Xerneas couldn't? Would you dare?"

Imposter did not figure it had much of a choice. It pushed itself to its feet, shakily.

Suddenly it looked up, a voice ripping everyone's attention to the entrance of the room.

"Oh my _gosh_ , what did you do to Xerneas!?"

Everyone looked to see Serena and Shauna standing boldly in the doorway, looks of pure shock on their faces. "You sick man," the former drawled. "There's a reason Xerneas is one of a kind, you know. The legendary Pokémon isn't yours to - clone, if that's what this is! Look at them, you're obviously causing them pain-" she gasped. "That one is fainted! You need to be beaten down, before you do anything else this crazy. And I'd be happy to administer," she suggested, withdrawing a Poké Ball, "but before that, don't think I haven't noticed who's missing. Where is Imposter?"

Lysandre faced them fully. Shauna looked like she was about to faint. "The Ditto trainer?" he seethed. "Your so-called friend? Why would you care; you'll never see it again anyway."

"I never said it- _he_ was my friend," Serena claimed. She nodded sideways to Shauna. "But he _is_ hers, and I'm not about to let you get away with any funny business. Where. Is. Imposter?"

Behind the shades, Lysandre's eyes narrowed. "You want to know so badly?" he asked. "Blind fools. See for yourselves." He motioned to where Imposter was, finally standing up at full height, overlooking everyone in the room.

Heart rate quickening, it gazed at each of the humans. What was going on? The girls' faces were stricken with some kind of indescribable emotion. Slowly Imposter started to put the pieces together.

Serena stammered. "Y-You're saying he _turned into_ another Xerneas?" she questioned. She exchanged glances with Shauna, then strode past Lysandre until she was standing right in front of the Pokémon. "Imposter, is that you?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Who am I kidding... I know it is. I wasn't sure at first, but I've always kind of known you weren't exactly - a human."

Shauna's hand flew to her open lips. "Wait, _what_!?" she shrieked. "What on Earth does that mean?"

"Shauna," Serena began, "Whenever you see Imposter battle, what Pokémon does he use? What is the only comprehensible word you've ever heard him say? What's the only Pokémon with access to the ability he uses as a name? What is our group's very _nickname_ for him?"

Shauna gasped a little, then looked down. "Uh..." she started, studying her feet. Her eyes glistened. "Ditto."

Serena nodded. "I'm sorry you had to learn this way. I know you were pretty - attached to Imposter here, but-"

"There's no way!" Shauna blurted. "Tell me you're lying, that this is all a big prank! Imposter can't be a Ditto, he can't be!"

"Silence!" Lysandre shouted, "No more wasting my time with this. This Pokémon isn't deserving of any friendship. Of any love. It lied to everyone; it hurt you; a Pokémon! When humans waste away the world in evil, Pokémon are those one depends upon to restore decency to it. But this one... I gave it all the chance it needed to prove it was deceiving us for noble reasons, yet it was only out of selfishness. Enough talking now; I must activate my ultimate weapon and end this."

"Oh no you-" Serena was about to challenge him, but then Xerneas started stirring. "Good gracious, the legendary Pokémon! Uh-"

She looked about the room. Shauna was on her knees, peeking through her fingers straight at Imposter, who felt ready to keel over. Its secret was out. Its adventure was over. Lysandre's robot arms were charging up another shot. Suddenly Serena began bursting out orders.

"Imposter! I know you're going through a lot, but I need you to hold off Lysandre for me, just long enough for me to handle Xerneas. You're a legendary now, remember - you can do it!"

She sprinted to Xerneas' side. What did she want Imposter to do? Lysandre. Hold him off? With what - a battle?

Being a Pokémon had never stopped it from doing that before.

In a fit of adrenaline, Imposter reared back and sent Lysandre a warning glare. The man finally looked like he was ready to take it seriously.

"Fine," he decided, his weapons powering down. "If it's a battle you want, well, it was going to be your funeral anyway."

Furiously, he tossed his Mienshao onto the field. Imposter glanced around for Froakie and its bag: it was hoping they would be nearby enough that it could use their help, but its Water-Type friend had moved off into a corner, out of harm's way.

It would have to fight this battle itself, then.

 _Moonblast_. It knew the move from Meowstic in its skirmishes with Serena. Mienshao stood no chance against the supereffective hit.

 _Gravity._ Imposter figured this would give it some kind of advantage over the Honchkrow Lysandre sent out next. However, the Flying-Type was still able to attack with a Steel Wing while on the ground.

Imposter bent forward. That move delivered more pain than expected. Honchkrow needed to be taken seriously, too. Moonblast again.

Honchkrow was weakened, but undeterred. He sent another Steel Wing. Imposter was feeling it now. Another Moonblast and Honchkrow bit the dust.

Lysandre was screaming the whole time, launching insults the way a Pokémon with the Skill Link ability would launch Pin Missiles: rapidly, sharply, and relentlessly. He sent in his Pyroar.

Imposter locked eyes with the majestic Fire-Type. His glare stopped Imposter in its tracks. Only at the last second did it remember it had to attack.

It and Pyroar exchanged moves until the latter joined the rest of his fallen teammates. Singed and scarred, Imposter tried to pull itself together. It had to remember the difference between battling as a trainer and battling as a Pokémon.

While considering this, Imposter recalled another rule of Dittodom that had eluded it for most of its adventure: Pokémon moves were difficult to replicate in a battle, and Ditto were more prone to Struggling than their subjects were. It had only happened a couple of times to Imposter, but those were its most unpleasant days. It was always thankful that humans could not use moves, or it never would have gotten past Santalune City.

All of this was important now because as Lysandre sent out his final battler, Imposter realized it had run out of Moonblasts.

The last opponent was the largest on Lysandre's team - larger even than Imposter, currently standing at the height of the legendary Pokémon. He burst out of his Poké Ball with as much rage as the trainer behind him. The serpentine behemoth sparkling red in front of Imposter was called Gyarados, and the wrath in his eyes made him look ready to slay even a legendary.

Imposter quivered. What were its odds - where were its allies? Shauna was nowhere to be found, Froakie was - somewhere - Imposter was sure, and Serena was still tending to the knocked-out Xerneas. It remained helpless.

But if Imposter was afraid when Gyarados entered the field, it was terror-stricken when Lysandre raised his arm, and identical red and black glows emanated from the stone on his hand and the one on his Pokémon.

Mega Evolution - the trick it had seen Serena and Korrina use before, but never someone as intimidating as Lysandre. Its mind flashed back to that day in Lumiose City, when it had first encountered the man; the first thing it had learned about him was that he was capable of this power, and now he was proving it.

Suddenly Imposter felt itself sinking. It knew immediately what the problem was; this always happened in the worst possible situations. It was rapidly deforming in cowardice and instability.

No, it told itself, today it would have to pull through. It would not faint; it would not wither. It would not be defeated by the worst it had seen of humanity, the species it loved the most. It could not be a Ditto now - now, it would have to be Xerneas, the legendary Pokémon.

It had to defeat a Mega Gyarados.

Its eyes narrowed as Gyarados writhed and roared in the air. Something was wrong. Lysandre was slamming his other hand onto the gauntlet that held his Key Stone, spewing expletives as he went. There was genuine pain in Gyarados's eyes.

Imposter's heart skipped as it realized what was happening. It did not blame the opponent for having trouble changing his form, as Imposter had more practice than any non-Ditto in doing so. But just as a Ditto could not attack while Transforming, Gyarados could not attack while it was Mega-Evolving.

Now was the Ditto's chance. It had no more Moonblasts to work with, but it did have Megahorns.

It sprinted forward, spotted an opening, and thrust its rack of rainbow-colored antlers into the beast. If it was lucky, Imposter could end the fight right there.

 _A critical hit!_

Imposter, of course, was lucky.

Gyarados was knocked against a wall, Imposter's horns ramming into him with the force of a Rhydon. Even the now fully Mega-Evolved shiny Gyarados was unable to battle.

Imposter finally stepped back, catching its breath. But it could not deform now, as there was no telling what Lysandre would do - and it had to be ready.

In a fit of rage, the man tore off his headset and flung it forcefully at the ground. Slumped over in defeat, he muttered his final laments of the battle.

"It's finally done with... I can't cleanse the world, and my ultimate dream will never be fulfilled. Are you pleased?"

If that meant Imposter had just single-handedly saved the human race, than yes, it was incredibly pleased. It looked down on Lysandre, the power of the legendary Pokémon still coursing through its veins. Victory tasted like sweet relief.

Serena looked up from where she had been tending to Xerneas. "Imp-Imposter, have you done it? I only needed you to stall him for a bit! I was going to defeat him and his awful team!"

Lysandre shuffled back to a straightened standing position. "I am no longer able to produce a blast large enough to clear the entire Kalos region," he admitted again, "but there is enough energy to show you what the weapon can do to the remains of Geosenge! If anything, I will at least have my revenge on you lot!"

Serena locked eyes with Imposter as Lysandre lifted his arm once more. The Ditto got the message. It located Froakie and its bag, scooped them onto its back, and followed Serena out the door where a bawling Shauna was huddled in the corner.

Serena grabbed her arm. "No time to be heartbroken now," she snapped. Imposter leaned down so that the two could pile on with Froakie.

A loud noise kept anyone from clearly making out whatever Serena spouted about Lysandre and Xerneas. The sound was massive enough, however, for the Ditto not to notice the mysterious decrease in weight upon its back, and it began sprinting away. If had hesitated any longer, it did not know if any of them would have survived.

* * *

Imposter ran and ran, long strides carrying it and its passengers over huge lengths of land. It refused to stop until it was about a quarter mile away from Geosenge, where they all could hear the blast from the ultimate weapon crashing into the village.

Shauna was crying the whole time, but it had not been listening to what she was saying until that point. "Imposter, _stop!_ "

The Ditto halted, its momentum carrying them forwards clumsily onto Imposter's face. Shauna and Froakie rolled off - dirty, but otherwise physically unhurt.

" _We don't have Serena,"_ Shauna drawled. "Did you even notice? You left with _out_ her!"

Imposter got up and looked around. Somehow she was correct. The other female was nowhere to be found.

"Now what do we do!?" she wailed; by now, Imposter was unaffected by the sound of her crying. "She's all alone in there, helpless - if she's even alive."

Imposter shook its head. She definitely had her team of Pokémon with her, and depending on where she was, she may also have Xerneas or Lysandre to keep her company. Her being alone was nothing to worry about.

"This is - so-" she stopped, sat down on the grass, and hugged her knees. "I-I can't believe everything that's happened today. I can't believe you're a-"

She could not even say it, apparently. "Ditto," Imposter chipperly finished for her. She just barely looked up enough to see it.

She sighed. "I really thought you were a nice kid," she admitted. "I thought we were such good friends... was all that Lysandre was saying true? Were you just deceiving us for your own good?"

Imposter thought it had an answer for that at first, but after some consideration, it realized the question was much too complicated for it to want to think about.

"I-I _kissed_ you," Shauna went on. "On the _lips!_ And you're - you're - I think I'm losing my mind. If that really is you, Imposter, then turn back into the person I know. Become human again."

That it could do. Trainer Card located, it let the process happen.

It put a hand on her head when it was done, and she looked up. Eyes watering, she opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped.

She bolted to her feet, wrapping her arms around it tightly. Once again unsure how to react, it hesitantly placed the side of its head on the top of hers. That was probably comforting.

She started squeezing tighter, and because this was uncomfortable and it wanted her to stop, Imposter whipped its head back up. But she did not stop, much to its chagrin. Instead she was wetting its sweatshirt with some kind of moisture from her face - likely tears, possibly saliva, probably both.

Now Imposter really had no clue what it was supposed to do, other than wait. So wait it did.

Shauna was speaking unrhythmically into its chest, although her words were indecipherable. It shared a look with Froakie. What was it expected to do?

Finally the human pulled away just enough to wipe the redness away from her eyes. "I'm-I'm so sorry," she began, "but I-I kinda needed that."

She looked around. "Geosenge is destroyed," she said, bringing the two back on topic. "And Serena... We need to go back."

Imposter looked into her broken eyes. Thinking it an appropriate response, it encircled her with its arms in what was trying to be another embrace, this one even more awkward.

Shauna hummed a bit in uncomfortable confusion, but then relaxation settled on her face. For a few seconds she hugged back, more gentle this time.

Imposter's back was sweating.

* * *

Since the Ditto was so bad with directions, it allowed Shauna to lead it back to what was left of Geosenge Town. Incidentally, this left it ample time to catch up with Froakie on the situation.

"So you - aren't mad?"

"Not at you," the Water-Type pouted. "It's that Lysandre fella who's got me so rattled. He was supposed to be our friend, giving us free tech and all, but he just turned out to be a crazy whack. Wanting to make all Pokémon extinct? And any humans who weren't part of his group? And he said _you_ were the one being deceptive. I hope he got real hurt in that blast. Brought it upon himself, he did."

Imposter blinked. "M-hm. I meant about her." It pointed forwards to Shauna kicking a rock along on her way. "I promised I wouldn't let her get that upset again, but-" Its face turned red with the realization of just how much it had messed up.

Froakie exhaled. "Okay..." he began, "That wasn't really your fault. You didn't try anything since we had our talk, and it's not like you had a choice in her finding out about this. Then she overreacted, and what's done is done, I s'pose. Anyway, she's young, and hasn't even known you for a month. She should get over it - my dad's situation was more... long-term."

Imposter nodded as if it understood any of his words; Froakie sounded like he was saying something intelligent, and it was too embarrassed to admit it was not comprehending it.

"Anyway, what about you? Now that they know and everything, what's it going to be like from now on?"

Imposter's heart skipped. "I don't know," it admitted. "But I'm scared about it. I don't want everyone thinking of me as that person who's actually a Pokémon, I just want to be a trainer like everyone else. Now I don't know if I'm even allowed to keep doing that."

It let that sink in. "Huh. Guess that's right," Froakie realized. "But you saved the day, didn'tcha? They have to let you do whatever you want. You were a _legendary_ for while there! How'd that feel, by the way? Being so strong?"

Imposter looked wistfully up, finally grinning. "There's no way to describe it. You have to go through it yourself. It was the best I've felt in a long, long time."

This garnered a smile out of Froakie, but it was short-lived. "Now, about Serena," he added.

Imposter gulped.

"How did you not notice when she got off? And with Shauna and I screaming at you to wait for her - how did this happen?"

"Uh..." It was unsure itself. It cringed. "It's not like I had much of a choice. If we didn't start running (I mean, if I didn't start running) when I did, none of us might have made it."

Froakie looked like he wanted a better explanation. Imposter did not blame him.

"And, you don't know what it's like to be a Ditto. When a situation gets to be too intense, you start coming undone - we call it deforming. Of course, if you try hard enough, you can keep holding onto your form. But it gets harder and harder as time goes on. Eventually you lose control of your senses, and the only ones that still work are the ones that keep you alive, but you really strain yourself using even those. To be honest, it's extremely unhealthy for a Ditto's body, even life-risking, probably, but this was already a life-or-death situation."

It rubbed its eyelids. "I'm sorry. I'm usually better than that, when it comes to staying Transformed well. Just, with everything happening..."

Froakie looked up, showing an expression not of disappointment, but of sorrow. "No, no, I should apologize," he realized. "I didn't know all that. I thought you - just didn't care, or something."

"Mm." Imposter turned forward. "That wasn't your fault, either." A second, then: "Hey, wait up a moment! I'm up by one again!"

"Up by-?" Froakie gasped. "Gosh diggity darn it," he spluttered. "You are, aren'tcha? And Team Flare's all gone now, so there's no way to catch up."

He started pouting. Imposter glanced at him with a sort of disappointed smirk. "It's not that bad," it reminded him, but he only looked away and kept hopping along. "Oh, now you aren't talking to me? You bugger," it joked. They kept on going for a few more yards before reaching a clearing.

Shauna turned around, panting. "So we, uh, made it," she announced. "Are you ready? You aren't going to make me explain about Serena, right?"

Imposter opened its mouth, but did not say anything. "Oh, right, you can't speak," she sighed. "Fine. Let's just go."

The three strode into the village, a large crowd greeting them. The first pair of humans to see them enter were the couple Imposter had met on Route Thirteen.

"Oh, Shauna," the female cried. "And Imposter! How good to see you've made it out safely."

"Yeah," her partner agreed, although there was hesitance in his voice. "We thought you two were goners."

Shauna turned to Imposter. "Wait, you know Sina and Dexio?" she asked.

Sina giggled. "Yeah! We've met all sorts of trainers on our mission to put an end to Team Flare. Then you've gone ahead and done it, huh?"

Dexio took over. "That's what it looks like. I'm sooo proud of you."

Imposter flushed with the praise. It did not remember these trainers very much, but they seemed a bit familiar.

"Y-Yeah," realized Shauna. "You did save the day, didn't you, Imposter? Pretty impressive for a P-" she caught herself. "...For a person... who isn't even an adult," she corrected.

"Hey, is that Shauna and Imposter?" another voice chimed in. It was Tierno, waving them all over a few feet away.

"Oh!" Shauna ran up to where he, Trevor, Olympia, and Diantha were waiting. "You guys made it too. Where are all the others?"

"Coming," Trevor assured. "Where's Serena?"

It was an innocent enough question, yet it changed the entire mood of the conversation.

"Yes," pried Sina, "where is she? She was one of Team Flare's strongest opponents. I want to thank her personally for all her help."

Imposter and Shauna looked to each other, then the former looked down to its feet. "Um," the girl began, "We uh... we don't really know."

Gasps overtook the crowd. Shauna began tearing again. "We only barely made it out ourselves. We thought Serena was with us, but then when we turned around, she wasn't..."

"Poor baby," Sina consoled, patting Shauna's back. "Anyway, the important thing is that Team Flare was taken down."

Dexio nodded. "Your friend will be missed, but her disappearance is no need to delay a celebration. You finally beat us."

"-To the catch!" Sina corrected. "What he means is, you got to 'em before we did. Boo."

The others shared nervous laughs, seemingly not ready to quit the topic of Serena, but not wanting to bring it up in front of Sina and Dexio, who seemed to be over it.

"Anyway, I think we had better be on our ways," Dexio said. "Got a lot of important things to take care of."

"M-hm," Sina agreed. "Toodles, all."

Those two left, somewhat inviting the others to join them. "Well, if Team Flare's finally out of the way, I really should get back to working on the Pokédex," Trevor decided. "Besides, it's been a lot of excitement for one day. Can I make my leave?"

Shauna sighed and nodded. "Sure, Trevor." Tierno raised a finger; "You too, Tierny."

He nodded. "Good luck on trying to find Serena. I know you can do it."

The next to make her leave was Olympia. "My young challenger, good fortune as you do good," she said to Imposter. "Our battle awaits."

Then it was only Imposter, Shauna, Diantha, and Froakie. "My, they all file out fast," Diantha observed. "I'm still worried for that girl. She was well on her way to defeating the Pokémon League, and I was looking forward to battling her myself."

"Yeah, she always wanted to become Champion," Shauna lamented. "I think we can still find her. She's got a lot of good Pokémon protecting her. We have to at least try."

Diantha 'tsk'-ed. "Her poor father. He isn't going to like this."

"Isn't going to like what?"

The voice came from a new figure, touching down in Geosenge on a Swellow. It took a second for Imposter to place the face, but Froakie got it immediately.

"VW," he whispered. "That's our guy, 'Pasta."

Imposter's eyebrows raised. Now it recognized that jutting collar.

Diantha must have known she would have to break the news herself, since for the first time, she looked genuinely nervous. "V-Veteran Wuh..."

"Diantha," he greeted. "What happened here? Was Lysandre defeated?"

Shauna giggled nervously. "Yep. The whole Team Flare thing is all put to rest."

His eyes were soft, but his face was steely. "And where's my girl?"

Diantha's eyebrows turned in, worry dripping down her face. Facing away from Shauna and Imposter, she leaned into VW's ear to whisper something.

Slowly his expression turned from one of curiosity to one of fear to one of shock. "What do you mean, she's missing!? She couldn't have been in there alone, I hope?"

"Sh-She wasn't," Shauna admitted carefully. "Imposter and I were in there with her... We didn't see what happened to her. Lysandre was about to fire his big weapon, and we all had to leave - I wanted to go back for her, but by the time I noticed she was gone, there was no time to. I'm really sorry, sir."

VW stood in shock, singular tears rolling down his cheeks. "My baby girl," he started, "still down there... How could I have let this happen?"

"It wasn't your fault!" Shauna insisted. "It was ours, for leaving without her! Don't blame yourself. There was nothing you could do, kept up in Lysandre Labs."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"And I'm her father, at forty-two. I'm the adult here, and it's my job to make sure she's safe, even when she's by herself..."

"Now, now, let's not focus on placing any blame," Diantha stepped in. "What matters is that she needs help, and we don't even know where to start."

"We-We could try the Holo Caster," suggested Shauna, pulling hers out. "I have her number."

VW looked her up and down as she dialed. "Are you two close?"

She looked up. "Me and Serena? Yeah, great friends... I'm calling her now."

The five waited in silence as Shauna's Holo Caster rang for a second, then cut out. She bit her bottom lip.

"Doy," she realized. "She's underground. There's no way there's a signal."

VW shook his head. "There must be another way. Okay; you two are trainers, right? You participating in the Pokémon League challenge?"

"Me, not really," Shauna said. "I've tried a whole lot, but I just never seem to get strong enough. This guy on the other hand-" she pointed to Imposter - "he's doing really well at it. Trying to get his, what, seventh badge?"

The green-haired man nodded. "Then you both should get on with that. Don't worry about Serena. If I know anything about my girl, it's that she can take care of herself. Diantha and I will have her back up here in a few hours, tops."

Shauna and Imposter glanced to each other. "No, we have to help you. Besides, she'd never forgive us if we don't!"

Diantha looked sympathetic, but agreed with VW. "It's much too dangerous for youths like you two."

"She's right. We don't know what will happen down there, and we can't have any more young trainers going missing. Besides, Serena could be hurt, or worse, and you'd only get in the way. It's nothing personal; we just can't take any risks here." His voice was gentle, despite the urgency, and firm. He gave off a truly concerned mien.

Shauna's lip quivered. "You might not know what's down there," she argued, "but we do. We've already dealt with Lysandre and everything. We can help you!"

Diantha was the first to respond. She sighed. "I know you're not going to rest easy until you've found your friend, and after all you've been through, you deserve at least that much. But you've had your share of danger today. Right, V?"

V shook his head. "We don't have time for this - we have to get down there now. Diantha and I are Kalos region Champions, you know, and we have our Pokémon's help. No offense, but we aren't in dire need of yours."

Shauna was speechless for a second. "Well-" she began, clearly defeated, "what are you waiting for? Go bring her back safe!"

"Don't worry," VW insisted, "We will. As a Champion and a father, you have my word."

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _Full disclosure; out of the two, my pick for the initial Generation VI games was Pokémon Y. This is based on X because it was the extra cartridge I used to play Imposter, so that my main file on Y wouldn't be deleted for it. But I mean, Xerneas is pretty cool too._

* * *

 **So there you have it! Told you it was an important chapter! What became of Serena? What will Imposter do now that its secret is out? WHO IS VW? We'll all have to see! In all seriousness, I really hope I did well with this chapter. The Xerneas/Yveltal cutscene has got to be my favorite out of all the mascot legendaries, and I wanted to do it justice here. Now, I don't normally ask for reviews 'cause I hardly ever give them, but now that there's some time in-between updates, any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance, and see you in a couple weeks!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Heeey guess who's back**

 **And check it out! A wild cover appeared! If you haven't seen it yet, there's a new cover with some more stuff going on. Like the Team Flare Admin redesigns for Sina and Dexio, as well as VW over in the bottom left. And I know, yes, the quality is SO BAD. Colored pencils and MS Paint aren't fri** **ends, apparently. Doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I'm amazingly bad at drawing. (Ok, it does)** **Would have done it digitally like the first one, but it would have taken... very, very long.**

 **Anyhow, cliffhanger over! Thanks for waiting out this long!**

* * *

Imposter had not been in a battle since it had beaten Lysandre's team yesterday, but it would admit, it was doing rather well in this one.

At this moment, Limber was Transformed into Olympia's Sigilyph, having just taken down her Meowstic with a lucky critical Air Slash. The battling Ditto still had most of its energy left: about three quarters, if Imposter had to guess. The Meowstic was the third Pokémon Olympia had sent out, and normally, this meant the battle was over.

But there was still the handicap it was getting from not having to progress through the Gym itself. Olympia was eager to remind it of this.

"Commendable work, but remember your promise. Go, my Medicham."

The next opponent was new to both Ditto, but they decided they were able to take her on anyway. Until their confidence was shaken by the purple glow enveloping her and her trainer.

Imposter knew the battle was going to be difficult, but it did not know that it would entail Mega Evolution.

"All Kalos Leaders have a Mega Pokémon," Olympia explained. "For eighth-badge trainers."

Imposter immediately thought back to its battle with Korrina atop the Tower of Mastery. So using her Mega Lucario was not allowed? It was working on its third badge at the time, not its eighth. Anyway, that seemed like something Korrina would do. It began to swell with pride - it had beaten an illegally difficult battle without even knowing it, right at the beginning of its adventure.

It voiced this to Limber, whose face seemed to soften. "I guess that's true," it realized. "You think we really can do this?"

Imposter smiled. "I think we can."

By this time, Medicham was finished Mega-Evolving, and was staring straight ahead at Limber, awaiting orders. Imposter swallowed, ready to make the first move. "Limber, quickly - you have the thing?"

"I have the thing."

"Good. Sky Attack!"

Imposter had been saving this move for a reason - it was one of its new favorites, and it had been planning to finish with it. Limber charged it quickly, the two watching as Medicham's fist crackled electrically in preparation for a Thunder Punch.

Imposter's eyes grew. "Limber, now! You have to go now!"

Limber nodded best it could with Sigilyph's head. "Alright!"

Its wings stretched out, and it darted around rapidly until it was a suitable distance away from Medicham. Her face showed suspicion about how it was able to charge the move so quickly.

Limber smirked. "Power Herb," it taunted, then launched itself forwards.

Medicham flew into the wall, looking defeated. She pushed herself to her feet. Even though the supereffective attack was executed so elegantly, it seemed that it was not enough.

Limber muttered terrified regrets as the Thunder Punch approached. Imposter cringed. Its friend was done for, even after the two had planned for this part of the battle. They were so confident that the Sky Attack would finish it, yet here they were.

"Limber, I'm so sorry," it whispered. "It was my fault. I didn't know she was going to use a-"

"It's okay," Limber coughed from the ground. "Neither did I, and you didn't - lose yet. Finish her."

Imposter lifted its Ultra Ball. "I will."

The next Ditto Transformed with the speed and precision Imposter was more used to. "Psycho Cut!" the trainer decided.

Medicham was truly down and out this time.

Olympia gently raised her arm and called her back. "Well, my team has lost," she lamented. Her face straightened. "And to a Ditto, at that. You _are_ impressive."

To a Ditto? No; to many Ditto. The confusion must have shown on Imposter's face.

"I see the future," the Gym Leader explained. "I saw my teleporters making you deform."

Imposter's head hurt. How long had she known - whom did she tell?

"Relax; the other League members are the only ones who also know. I'm all about rules; withholding information would be illegal. Take this Psychic Badge. It is an apology and a well-earned prize."

 _Imposter received the Psychic Badge from Olympia!_

"You do deserve it," she went on. "Thank you additionally for your help before."

Imposter grinned softly. Even though she knew it was a Pokémon, she was showing it gratitude. For that, it wanted to thank her in return. "Ditto," it chirped.

* * *

Routes Eighteen and Nineteen were long and challenging, riddled with trainers asking for battles. Imposter took on all of them. It relished in every opportunity it had to show off how far it and its friends had come in the past few weeks.

Its team battered and dirty, but perpetually full of spirit, it came to a small valley joined by a rope bridge. Imposter, not quite smart enough to fear heights, marched clumsily across it.

"Wait-! Imp- hey! Imposter, wait-!"

The Ditto turned at the familiar voice. It was Shauna, out of breath, her face anxious. "Hey. The-They found Ser-Serena," she panted. "But it's not good. She-"

She grabbed onto a rope to stabilize herself and catch her breath a little. "Hookay. Like I was saying, they found Serena."

Imposter nodded, inviting her to continue. "But she's... in really bad shape. She's actually in Shalour City's hospital right now. They said she was trapped underground for a few hours, and..."

Shauna played with the frilly bracelet on her right arm. "I heard she was caught under a bunch of rubble, and somehow her arm broke."

She looked up in thought. "No, not her whole arm; her wrist. But still... They didn't even let me in to see her, but the doctors say she's gonna be okay. It's just, I can't help feeling that this was our fault, you know? She was being heroic and going back to save Xerneas, and we didn't even wait for her."

She looked Imposter in the eye. "Do you even know any of what I'm saying? It's so weird knowing what I do now, about you - being a - yeah. I mean, you probably didn't know what you were doing. It's such a shame, isn't it?" She breathed deeply. "None of us really could have prevented this. I guess we're lucky that we all made it out alive, in one way or another."

Imposter was trying its best to pay attention, but so many questions were swirling about in its head. Human limbs could break? The bone, perhaps; they were a lot softer than many Pokémon ones. Still, it sounded painful, so why would Serena choose to do it? And what became of Lysandre? Geosenge? Xerneas? Did Shauna even know? It longed, once again, for a way to express these ideas. Speech was something Imposter had wanted so much, and how much humans took it for granted made it sick.

"Hm? Are... Are you okay, Imposter? You don't totally look... here."

Upon hearing its name, the Ditto was brought back to reality. Shauna was looking deep into it again, like she did. Of all the humans it had met in its lifetime, she was by far the most confusing.

"Uh... yeah," it muttered, forgetting momentarily that she would not understand. "I'm - fine."

Its tone was somber enough that she must have gotten the message anyway, for her face scrunched into pity. "Oh, I didn't really mean all this was _your_ fault. Er, I guess that's part of what I just said, but if you really didn't know what was happening, no one can really blame you for trying to escape, huh?"

She looked down, her words somewhat inaudible. "It's just like... Well, like my feelings for you, I guess. I had no idea what was really going on, or who you really were. I just thought you a tall, handsome fella who was real fascinating - bluh, now that I'm saying it all out loud, I feel really gross about it, but I can't say it never happened. I got a crush on a _Ditto._ How-How crazy is that?"

She scratched at the back of her neck, laughing nervously. "Oh! Wait a minute, I'm sorry!" She must have seen Imposter's face, because she went on to say, "That's probably a really sore spot for you, not being a - real person, and all. But I think it's very interesting, I really do! That you were able to get this far as a trainer, even when a lot of humans like me can't, that's so impressive! I don't want you to think you have to keep that a secret.

"Besides, I've been doing some more training with Korrina since yesterday, and she said she already knew. Olympia told her. She said all of the Gym Leaders knew, and here's the thing! You must not be breaking any rules, or anything, since they're still letting you be a trainer. You're free to tell everybody in the whole Kalos region-" she raised her arms to the sky and proudly exclaimed, " _Imposter of Vaniville Town is a Ditto!"_

Her face twisted from joy to embarrassment when she heard the bridge creak behind her. Imposter's was mortified. Trevor and Tierno had just came up behind them, in perfect earshot of Shauna's declaration.

The latter broke the silence first. "Shaaauna..? What are you saying..?"

The girl whipped around, blushing wildly. "What? Oh, my friends! Hey, didn't - uh - see ya there! How's the 'Dex coming, Trevs? How 'bout that dance team?"

Her jovial finger guns failed to affect the two stoic trainers. "No, wait up a second," Trevor insisted, "What are you talking about? Imposter's a Ditto?"

"Uh..." she turned back nervously to Imposter, searching its face for ideas. "I mean, no, hah, that's ridiculous! I was going to say - Ditto _fan_. Yeah, because he uh, uses them so much. Probably the biggest Ditto fan out there, wouldn't you say?"

"But Shauna, his feet are turning purple."

The girl yelped and spun to see if this was true. Imposter itself realized that it was, and carefully picked each foot up, trying to give them their proper shape.

"Er, I mean, I - well, yeah, they are! What, did-did you think this was the _real_ Imposter? Nope! This is one of his team members just Transformed into him, playing a trick! A double imposter, if you will! Y-You got us, Ditto, what a mischievous prankster you are!"

She was delirious, and Tierno and Trevor remained unconvinced. "Shauna," Trevor started, "Shauna. What are you trying to hide from us? We're your friends, and you can tell us anything. What _really_ happened in Geosenge?"

He crossed his arms. "You know we aren't going to get the story from Serena, and obviously, Imposter doesn't speak."

Shauna swallowed. "Well..." she turned to Imposter. "I guess we kind of have to tell them now." She paused. "Or would you like to show them? You know, _I_ still haven't seen you in your true form."

That, like many things recently, did not leave Imposter much of a choice. Meeting each of the trainers' eyes once, it slowly removed its bag.

It honestly thought they would react more disgustedly to seeing a member of their species dissolve into gelatin, but perhaps they were too mesmerized by the revelation to have a definite reaction at all.

Shauna, standing the closest, delicately reached down and picked the exhausted Pokémon up. She turned so that they could all behold it together.

Of course, it was pelted with questions, but it was more focused on not falling out of Shauna's unsteady grip.

"Wow, what's it like being a Pokémon?"

"What made you want to be a human?"

"Do you have a trainer?"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Can you become _any_ Pokémon?"

"Can you understand other Pokémon, like the ones you're battling against?"

"Yeah, what's that like?"

Its head was ringing. The humans had to know that it was unable to answer them, so why did the questions keep coming?

Shauna must have felt its uncomfortable contracting. "Y-You know, I think he's feeling a little overwhelmed right now," she realized. It was Imposter's favorite thing out of her mouth all day.

The other two ceased their inquiries, instead looking ashamed. "Yeah, I probably would be, too," Tierno admitted. "It's just, this is a lot to take in, y'know?"

"You're telling me!" Shauna exclaimed. "Anyway, what it was like under Geosenge..."

Imposter did not care much to listen to her recap; living through it once was enough for it, and besides, it had no way to correct or add to anything she said, so it could have not even been there. As far as it could tell, Trevor and Tierno were attentive listeners, and it figured Shauna could deal with two out of three of those. It closed its eyes; as much as it would have preferred this never to have happened, it was grateful for this opportunity to take a rest as a Ditto. That had happened even less than usual lately, and for a few moments, all its cares were suspended.

"So what do we do now?"

Imposter was not sure who had asked it, but it had the same question. It wanted to continue its adventure, of course, but before that, it had to deal with these three.

"...I dunno, now that I think of it," Shauna realized. "Well, I guess it's up to, uh... Ditto over here."

They all looked down to it. Trevor whispered sideways to Tierno, "Are we still calling him that?"

"Are we still calling him 'him'?"

Shauna glanced at them flatly. "All that doesn't matter. You know what I came here for? Well, other than to tell him about Serena?"

"What's that?"

"Well, now that we all know - he's a - yeah-" Imposter could not help but feel embarrassed when she phrased it like that - "and since I've been working so hard with my own team of Pokémon, um..."

"Um?"

"Well, I kind of figured I wanted to have a battle with him. I haven't in sooo long, anyway. What do you think?"

The last question was directed at the purple blob in her hands. A battle? Imposter was quite up for that, as long as it was allowed to Transform back first.

It wobbled around, trying to express this. If it could at least be put back down, it could do the rest on its own. It only took a few minutes to get the point across.

The three looked on in curiosity as it changed back to human form, but it wished they would not. As natural as Transforming was to it, it was bashful in front of an audience.

It tried not to meet their eyes by shuffling over to its bag and hoisting it on. But it had to face them at some point, and when it did, their reactions were surprisingly positive. Trevor was grinning proudly, Tierno looked impressed, and Shauna, while she appeared happy for it, also looked like she was about to faint.

"Uh - buh - I have so many questions!" Trevor blurted. "What the - who the - how the - why the - ugh, there's no way you can even answer me, is there?"

He slumped over. "Well, you're supposed to get a lot closer to people when you battle them, right?" Shauna suggested, "Maybe when it's done with me, you can have a go with it."

Trevor touched his chin in thought. "I guess that might work. Anyway, get on with it! If it's my turn next, you ought to get started."

Shauna giggled. "Sure thing, Trevs."

The two trainers took opposite ends of the bridge. "I hope you're ready, Impo, because we've trained pretty hard for this! Er, I guess your team has too. We both have to be ready then! No matter what we are, or who we might be inside, we _are_ Pokémon trainers, after all!"

Trevor and Tierno watched on from the back as the battle begun, monsters leaping out of their Balls and into the fray. The Pokémon Ditto Transformed into was a Delcatty, a new species to its team.

But it would make do. The battlers flung themselves at each other, abiding by their trainers' commands. Imposter and Shauna would sometimes catch each other's eyes, and the latter would briefly look down and blush before shaking her head and continuing to spew orders.

Eventually Imposter learned it could take advantage of this. Ditto had gotten paralyzed somehow, and looked like it was about to go down, when Imposter flashed the opposing trainer a small, toothless smile.

Her trainer officially distracted, Delcatty received no order to attack, and was susceptible to Ditto's immediate Play Rough move.

She was knocked out, and Shauna was upset. "Why, you did that on purpose, you little, uh, Normal - Type Ithinkisthataninsult?"

Tierno snickered at her inability to think of a good comeback, while Trevor rolled his eyes. Imposter just shook its head in amusement. Calling someone a Normal-Type was a compliment, as far as it was concerned. Besides, it was winning, and that was important.

Shauna bit her lip. "Fine! You're gonna get the big guns now!" she taunted. "Get 'em, Goodra!"

Imposter's eyes widened when the slimy Dragon-Type took the field. Something about it seemed mighty familiar.

Shauna looked ready to make another confession. "I know what it looks like," she began, "and I'll admit, when I caught him as a Goomy, I thought he was a Ditto. The whole purple blob thing, you know... I wanted one because it reminded me of you."

Goodra made a motion of cracking his knuckles, throwing everyone through a loop when the sound of actual joints popping emanated. "So you're this Imposter Shauna's so crazy about, eh?" His voice was deep and - spunky, if Imposter had to choose a word. "You ain't half bad. This'll be fun."

Unsure whether or not to take that as a threat, Imposter hesitantly ordered another Play Rough. Goodra cried out, indicating a good hit, but was quick to retaliate.

"Dragon Pulse!" Shauna cried, a bit too excitedly. If the move had been any more powerful, it might have destroyed the bridge.

Ditto went down, curled up in defeat. The next one was hardly paying attention to the battle, looking over itself in fascination with the fact that it was now a Dragon-Type.

"Ditto, what are you doing? Get your head in the game! It's your turn to use Dragon Pulse now."

But Goodra was faster, and seemed to have a better idea. He laughed at the order Shauna gave, and eagerly carried it out.

The human girl must not have been thinking straight, having her Pokémon use Earthquake in the middle of a rope bridge. That was what Imposter told itself.

Everyone hung onto the railings as tight as possible as the unsturdy flooring rattled underneath. Imposter had to hold its hat down to be sure it would not fly off - it was still technically a part of its Ditto body, even though it was detached from its human body, and losing it would be like losing a limb.

When the shaking finally stopped, Ditto was down for the count. Goodra was busy tauntingly inspecting the site of his nonexistent fingernails.

Imposter cringed. Losing now would be too embarrassing. It sent another, who was immediately knocked down by a Dragon Pulse, but held on just long enough to shoot out its own and defeat Goodra.

Flustered but not frustrated, Shauna called him back. "Fine," she whined, "I still have four team members left. Let's see how you handle _this!_ "

What she sent out next made Froakie have a physical reaction. It was the Fennekin he had grown up alongside, but looking much different - stronger, even.

Shauna called her a Delphox, but Imposter still called her an opponent. It knew Earthquake would do a lot of damage, but given the location, Imposter would do good not to put the bridge and everyone on it through another one of those.

That is, it would do good, if it was smart.

When Ditto was finished, Trevor and Tierno were clutching each other in fear, Shauna was grasping the rope handles looking for a plank solid enough to put her weight on, Imposter had fallen facefirst into a mouthful of splinters, and Delphox was bent down, catching her breath. Imposter almost forgot to pick itself back up, if not for Shauna's muttering.

"Not the brightest one on the team, are you?" she realized reluctantly. "I mean, I _guess_ that makes sense..."

Imposter's wood-filled face scrunched into confusion, unsure whether or not it was being insulted, and what the appropriate response would be.

Shauna shook her head. "What I'm tryna say is, _please_ don't use Earthquake anymore-?" She shook her head. "No, wait, this is a battle, for goodness' sakes, I can't tell your fighter what to and not to use! How insensitive of me - I've gotta take it into my own hands to make sure you don't use _anything_ anymore. Delphox, take it out with Psychic!"

And so Delphox did. Two left. This time, it would save Limber for last. The next one traded Psychics and Mystical Fires with Delphox until she was defeated.

Froakie looked relieved to see her called back, but then a little downtrodden. "We never got along, she and I," he admitted. "Looking back now I kinda wish we did." Wanting an elaboration but too busy battling to properly receive one, Imposter made a note to ask later, if it remembered.

The next Pokémon would be a familiar sight to both Imposter and Froakie. "Well, it's a little sad that we still haven't gotten the evolution thing to work," Shauna lamented, readying the Ball, "but she's still a fighter! She must be, I mean, Serena was her first trainer, after all! Go, Phantump!"

The undead Grass-Type was noticeably larger than she was the first time Imposter had met her on Route Fourteen, showing off the training she must have done with Shauna. Ditto's eyes widened, just barely.

But Imposter was unafraid. "Ditto, keep using Mystical Fire," it decided, remembering its Type advantage at the last moment.

"Um, well-" Ditto wavered, "I'm... I'm out of those."

Oh, no, the five Power Point rule! For some reason, that had not started becoming a problem until recently. Imposter chewed its lip. "F-Fine, go with Psychic then."

Ditto gladly did so, and when the visual manifestation of the move faded, it appeared that Phantump had been wisped away with it.

Shauna acted surprised and worried that her Pokémon was gone, but there was a gleam in her eyes that revealed the presence of something else. Imposter and Ditto scanned the scene vigorously for the invisible Pokémon. Hesitantly, and out of the corner of its mouth, it commanded, "Calm Mind, Ditto."

The poor battler was in the middle of its meditative setup when Shauna screamed out: "Phantump, now!"

Now Ditto's eyes really widened, as the opposing Pokémon congealed into a tangible form right in front of it - while shooting forward in a terrifying Phantom Force.

Poor Ditto stood no chance.

Hand shaking, Imposter called it back. Now it was losing, and to the human that had apparently admired it since their meeting. The first battle they had, Imposter remembered, it had won. Granted, that was before either of them had obtained or trained either of their teams; just before Froakie released himself - or was it after? Anyway, that mattered not. What mattered was not losing now, but as much confidence as Imposter wanted to have in its friend, Shauna still had three strong Pokémon left, apparently. That would be a lot to handle with the pre-evolved Phantump as a subject.

Then again, if anyone could do it, that was Limber.

It decided not to reveal yet that this Pokémon was its last chance at winning, as the panic that would cause would almost certainly ensure the loss. Instead, it started to give the order to Transform, but it seemed Limber was already on it.

"Hey, nice initiative," Imposter laughed. It knew that Ghost-Types were difficult to replicate, too - what with Transform being a Normal-Type move, not to mention that most Ghost-Types did not provide much in the way of DNA. That was the perfect guide for how to put together a body, as long as it was there. Transforming into inanimate objects and any Pokémon that lacked DNA required a lot more improvisation on the Ditto's part. In addition to that, ghosts - similar to Porygon-Z, the Pokémon Froakie described the other day - were made of something other than matter. Poké Ball technology proved that it was possible for Pokémon to be that way, but Imposter would be the first to admit that changing from one to another was one of the hardest things a Ditto could do.

In sum, Imposter was putting Limber through something tremendously difficult, and was mightily impressed by how its fiend was handling the task.

Shauna hummed. "Okay, now it has your super-high Attack stat," she conferred to her Pokémon. "What should we do about that?"

Phantump cheered, then released a Will-O-Wisp straight for Limber.

"Nice! Now, you know what to do."

Imposter knew what too, and hurriedly ordered for Limber to follow with its own Phantom Force.

"She's gonna disappear!" It shouted. "You have to do that quickly, before she-"

But Phantump was already nowhere to be found. Limber's eyes darted about, clearly unsure of where her opponent went or how she so vanished.

"Just - use Phantom Force! Hurry."

"O-Oka..." it spun around, and without further hesitation, faded out of sight.

...Only to reappear a short moment after, closer to Shauna.

"Hyah!" it cried out, zipping around. Unfortunately for the team of Ditto, Phantump was still hiding.

Shauna grinned. "Now!"

Limber's face, burn and all, distorted into pure fear.

The supereffective move knocked it out of the air and back onto the bridge at Imposter's feet, completely deformed, totally unconscious.

Imposter gasped and fell to its knees. The bridge rattled and gave with the impact, yet Imposter failed to notice. Its friend was defeated, once again. Wordless this time, Limber was lying there in the Pokémon's most vulnerable state.

With a sigh, Imposter withdrew the Ultra Ball, returned its friend, and shakily stood up.

It was shocked at the loss, but Shauna was grinning ear to ear. "Oh my gosh, great job Phantump! We-We actually beat him! I can't believe - we've all gotten this far. It's actually... pretty special, that after all this time, we all make such a good team."

Then she put Phantump away in its Ball and addressed Imposter. "And look at you! Losing to a girl, haha. Anyway, uh, I guess - I'm sorry? I couldn't stop thinking about all this time we spent together, and all that I must have put you through. Like, how weird it must have been to have a _human_ care so much about you in the way that I did. Looking back on it now it's almost funny."

Imposter did not think that being so confused about everything and getting ridiculed by Froakie for it was funny, but it mustered a chuckle for her sake. She looked down.

"Anyway, remember how I said I was training with Korrina so much? I've been thinking about a lot of things lately, and I realized I actually do have most of the Gym Badges - I haven't been taking the League Challenge very seriously so far, but seeing you and Serena work so hard at it is kinda inspiring, you know? And because they took her to Shalour where Korrina lives, I'll get the chance to catch up with her some.

"W-What I'm saying is, after all this gets sorted out, I think I want to battle the Elite Four. Since she won't be able to for a while."

She was silent for a second, allowing Tierno to off-handedly whisper something to Trevor.

"...That's one reason why I wanted to battle you so much," Shauna went on. "Korrina says Pokémon battles are all about strategy, and I figure it'd be even more so when you're battling with a bunch of powerful Ditto. So if I could beat you," she reasoned, "I could beat anyone! Heheh!"

Imposter blinked, while Trevor and Tierno rolled their eyes. That seemed like a compliment, and Imposter was fine with taking it that way.

"Anyway, that's why I was headed to Snowbelle City - the Glacier Badge is one of the ones I still need, and I knew you'd be coming for it too. That being said, you wanna-"

She giggled a little. "This is like when we first started, before the first Gym. And here we are before your last one... Listen, I know a lot has happened recently, but I-I still want to continue going on an adventure with you. Ditto or not, you're still my friend, and I still have to treat you like one. So, will you come and finish this with me?"

Imposter stood there in consideration. Was that not already the plan? It nodded. It and its team had little else to do, and little farther to go at this point. It would have finished its journey with or without Shauna.

She smiled. "Alright! Well, what's a better time to get a move on then now, eh? Let's all go together!"

Trevor and Tierno exchanged glances. "Shauna..."

"Hum?"

"You know, I wanted to battle Imposter next!" Trevor whined. "I'm not going anywhere until I do."

Shauna blanched. "Oh, that's right, I'm so sorry. Here, I'll heal up his team, and you'll be good to go!"

Imposter grinned. More battling? It no longer cared that it lost; this was what it lived for.

Trevor and it sent out their Pokémon. The Ditto felt ecstatic.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _Like Korrina's, Olympia's Gym battle was a challenging one for me during the Imposter playthrough. Mainly for the reason that I was almost out of healing items, and was too lazy/kept forgetting to go back and get more. Thus Impo here had to get stuck for a while on her as well._


	24. Chapter 24

Imposter was never fond of the cold, but after its experience in the Frost Cavern, it absolutely dreaded it. Therefore, its chagrin when it discovered its reward for stopping Team Flare was getting to spend time in an Ice-Type Gym - in a city named _Snowbelle_ , at that - was understandable.

Clutching its jacket tighter, it strolled out of the Pokémon Center, figuring it must have Transformed something incorrectly - it should not be this uncomfortable as a human, if that species had chosen to create a civilization here. That made no sense.

Through its visible breath it saw the outline of a tall man standing outside of the Gym. His green hair and suit, contrasting with the white snow, gave him all away. Froakie gasped a little, but before he was able to say anything, the man turned around.

"Ah, I was waiting for you," VW said. "Wulfric told me you'd be coming here for your last Gym badge. He's a good friend of mine, who's been a Gym Leader since before I even came to Kalos. That was already almost a decade ago...

"Anyway, I sought you out because I've heard you were good friends with my daughter, and she just wouldn't shut up about you. All the things she said about you being a Pokémon, impersonating a human, stopping Team Flare by taking on the form of Xerneas? You're quite the specimen, aren't you?"

Imposter did not know how to react - Serena, who was just days ago steaming upset about it, now regarded _it_ as impressive?

VW laughed. "Anyway, I'd like to assure you she's doing just fine. She'd acquired a small injury to her wrist, however, and will have to have it casted for a few weeks, likely more. So... she isn't going to be returning to Victory Road until that all passes. You're welcome to visit us in Vaniville Town whenever you would like to, but I understand you're in the middle of your own challenge, so I wouldn't want to keep you from that."

Imposter looked down remissly. What was this Victory Road that everyone spoke of so reverently? Was it expected to go there, to do something? Apparently. It inwardly shook its head. It could sort all that out later. What VW had to say was more important.

"I do feel bad for the girl, though. It was her right hand, too, her throwing one. Apparently she was wearing a Mega Ring on that arm, but it was crushed into pieces. Luckily we were able to salvage the Key Stone, the important thing, but we haven't had time to see if it still works..."

He looked Imposter up and down. "Say, you're a Pokémon, aren't you? Awfully quiet. Do tell, do you know how to speak our language?"

"Dit-Ditto..." it admitted.

He nodded slowly. "I see. It was a long shot, but I was just so curious to see if there was anything I could learn from you. About Pokémon, or anything. But I guess not.

"But that's not a problem. Really, I wish you luck, with whatever it is you're looking to do. Anyway, I must be making my leave now. Have to bring my girl home."

With that, he invited his Swellow back out, mounted, waved, and flew off. Imposter and Froakie were left standing outside the Gym.

* * *

Shauna had gotten a Holo Caster call saying that Serena was being released from the hospital earlier than she had thought, so she had flown back to Shalour shortly after the two had made it to Snowbelle City. Once VW had gone to join her, the Ditto was once again lacking in human companionship.

This left it to explore the city by itself for however long it wanted, although that was not quite so long as with certain other towns - it wanted out of the cold as soon as possible, and even Froakie started to feel anxious about the temperature after a bit.

Said frog was the one to find the solution: to the west of the city was a large forest, and Froakie's love of trees coupled with Imposter's disdain for the cold got the two inside quicker than a Rapidash wearing Running Shoes.

It was a trek lasting almost half the day, but eventually Winding Woods emptied out into a decently-sized clearing.

Imposter's heart stopped.

It guessed that Froakie was speaking to it, wondering what was wrong, but it had no answer to give and no voice with which to give it. Something was weird about this place. Something was a bit too - familiar.

It looked around: the area did not seem like much at first glance, just a field of flowers and some hills enclosed by the trees. Small shelter-like pieces of architecture sprinkled in the less densely-grown sections of ground implied that there was some kind of civilization here, but it did not look human.

Then Imposter had gotten it.

It had never really gotten to know this place from the perspective of the height it currently had, so the recognition had taken a while, but now it finally knew.

The Pokémon Village. The site of its youth.

It had been years since the last time it had been here, but it remembered the details clearly. And with its normally awful long-term memory, it was feeling slightly proud about that.

The more Imposter thought about it, the more it remembered. This was where it met Grace. And on that day, it had followed her through a large forest and into a very cold place filled with large structures and many of the tall creatures that had piqued its interest...

More memories surfaced, and suddenly it was back there again.

* * *

 _This was one of the colder nights in the village, the young Ditto realized with annoyance. It shrunk further into the grass. The blades sometimes did well to retain heat, but nothing would help it more than finding a subject and turning its senses off. So that it did._

 _The elder Ditto had always spent the night as stones, to keep from being bothered by anything like the weather or other Pokémon. It always had trouble with lifeless objects, but it was cold enough that it would still try._

 _Just as it was about to undo its eyes, it sensed a shadow befalling it. Instantly it sprang back to form._

 _The Pokémon casting said shadow was immensely tall - almost as tall as the resident Snorlax, it would bet - but much thinner. Different body type from most of the creatures that lived in the village, it was sure to note. Except maybe Gothorita._

 _Eyes trained further onto the Pokémon, Ditto realized it had seen ones like this before. Yes, that was right - members of this species would come here occasionally, bearing berries or sometimes even honey. Ditto adored the honey._

 _Bashful as it was, however, it realized as the unfamiliar Pokémon walked further away that it had never once become one itself. The other Pokémon seemed to dislike them, and would never let it close enough. But what kind of Ditto would it be, not to spring on the chance to test out a new form?_

 _So it shuffled forwards, trying its best to keep the Pokémon in sight. It would do this right, this time._

 _Four limbs, one head, no visible tail. Opposable thumbs; interesting. An endoskeleton. Warm-blooded, slightly more cold-resistant than Ditto. What appeared to be hair, found throughout the surface of the body but mainly concentrated at the back of the head, where it was the longest. The Pokémon looked slightly to its right, providing a convenient profile for reference. Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth. It seemed this individual was a female, bearing significant differences from the one that came most often. The biggest of these differences was the outer layer of what Ditto assumed was skin, covering most of the torso and feet. To Ditto's chagrin this was made of mostly abiotic material, but it tried its best._

 _But wait - something about this Pokémon was wrong. She had no ability to speak of. No Type. And knew no moves, to boot! This had never happened before! All Pokémon had all three, it knew, even Ditto. It knew the move Transform, for instance; it was a Normal-Type, and its ability was called Imposter. This Pokémon lacked all of that, and Ditto was certainly befuddled._

 _So it decided instead to focus on polishing its form. Maybe all that was still coming. Was there anything it had missed? That was feasible, since this organism felt more complicated than most of the ones it was used to. But anything it failed to form voluntarily should have been taken care of by the genetic guidelines it was receiving._

 _Ditto looked down, inspecting its feet. They were so - far away. In a moment of fear it realized it may never have been this tall before; and as a biped, walking would be... difficult at best, torturous at worst._

 _Well - here goes._

 _Left foot up. Not balancing! Left foot down. But wait, it did not seem to advance. It would try again. Right foot up. Weight distribution unequal! Right foot down. Still have not moved. Could this species levitate? That would be immensely easier. So it tried._

 _..._

 _...No, this species was incapable of levitation. Drat. Back to the feet again. Deep breath through the nose. Right foot up; right foot forward-_

 _Right foot down! Right foot down! But its right foot was not down. It was way up in the air, the rest of its body having tumbled backward onto the grass. Pain spreading through the pelvic and spinal regions. Eyes secreting a liquid similar to salt water. This was all going... poorly._

 _It blinked away the liquid in order to regain vision, notably sharper than what its usual eyes allowed it. Finally letting its right foot down, it gazed up to see its mysterious subject - who was watching it all along._

 _She was laughing; that was good, because it meant she was not offended. Ditto did not want to offend her. It wanted to learn more about her._

 _When she spoke, her voice had a different quality to it than it was used to; perhaps due to the change in ear structure. "Boy, you're a curious fellow, aren't you?"_

 _Wait, what would it say? It had not thought of that. It shyly spluttered out the first thing that came to mind. "What-What's your ability?"_

 _She giggled again, but did not answer its question. "That's funny. You'd think after being around Ditto so long I'd be used to seeing them in my body, but every time is as surreal as the first. I'm Grace, by the way."_

 _Finally, a name for the creature. Ditto was thinking now that the longer it stayed Transformed into the wild Grace, the more it liked her species._

" _Um, I'm Ditto," it went on. "I live here in the village, but I haven't seen you around before... where did you come from?"_

" _Sh, sh... I know being a human is a little weirder than being a Pokémon, but you don't have to freak out. It's okay. You can change back whenever you want, you know."_

 _Being... uhyoomin? Ditto was always bad with words, but it wanted to know what this one meant. The way she said it implied that if it was uhyoomin, it was not a Pokémon. But she had to be a Pokémon. Non-Pokémon were things like rocks and trees and the sky. They could not talk or think or move because they were not Pokémon. This Grace was talking, thinking,_ and _moving. She was a Pokémon, by that logic - not a plant or an item._

 _But she had no Type or anything. Maybe... It would require further inquiry._

" _No offense, but, what exactly are you?"_

" _So how do you feel? Do you like it?"_

 _Now this was becoming frustrating. She was answering none of its questions, ignoring every word. "I-I don't know, but why aren't you answering me?"_

 _She must have sensed its distress, for she backed away a few feet at that. "Now, now, no reason to get upset. I'm not a Pokémon, you know. I can't understand your language."_

 _Ditto's eyes widened. If that was a confirmation of its suspicions, it was an unsatisfying one._

" _O-Of course you're a Pokémon. You're not a plant, or a mushroom, and you're alive - you have dee-ennay."_

 _That was what the other Ditto said to look for in living subjects, the source of the genetic information that would aid a Transformation. "If you weren't alive you wouldn't have that... right?"_

 _The wild Grace laughed again. "It's okay, it's okay," she repeated. "See, I can prove it. When you Transform, you always know the moves of whatever you turn into, right? And the ability, and the Type? Well, I don't have those. I'm what's called a human... We're a different kingdom from Pokémon entirely. More similar to them than, say, plants are, but still radically different. You understand?"_

 _This speech did explain away the differences a little, Ditto admitted. Fine; it had nothing else to explain it, and nothing really to lose by trusting her._

" _So... you really can't understand what I'm saying then?"_

 _She shook her head. "And because of that, I can't really understand what you're saying. I'm sorry."_

 _Ditto sat there in confusion. This was becoming an odd night indeed._

" _Anyway, I'm here looking for Ditto like you. My job is to collect the best of them, give them a nice home, and train them for the battles of their lives. You like battling? They say most Pokémon do. What do you say - you seem to have great potential. And a hidden ability! I've been wanting one of those."_

 _Did Ditto like battles - of course it did, what kind of question was that? It adored them, but mainly when it won. Most people were like that._

 _But she was making it an offer. Go with her, and be trained, possibly learning more about these non-Pokémon Grace, or stay here and continue its life in the Pokémon Village. This - demanded some thought._

" _But oh, don't take my word for it," Grace added, pulling out a small black, yellow, and white sphere. She then tossed it in the air. "Go, Limber!"_

 _To Ditto's surprise, the sphere opened into two halves and a light came from it - no, not a light, for it was materializing... into what else but another Ditto._

 _At this point, Ditto was halfway convinced all this was a dream. Suddenly embarrassed in front of another member of its own species, it rapidly deformed._

" _Uh - hey," it spluttered once its mouth had the correct shape. "S-Sorry about that, I was-"_

 _The other Ditto hummed. "It's okay, that happens a lot more than you'd think." It tilted its head pensively. "Anyways, they call me Limber. I'm guessing Grace has taken a shine to you?"_

 _Ditto eyed the Grace, who was smiling sweetly. "I guess."_

 _Limber wobbled. "That's cool. She probably took me out to convince you to come with us, then._

" _It's your choice entirely, of course," it went on. "But I don't regret a moment of it. I've been around the world, battled tough Pokémon, became even tougher ones... it's_ riveting _. You have no idea how many Pokémon there are in the world until you go on a journey like I did. If I'd stayed... boy, I'd never have gotten as good as I am at Transforming, I promise you that._

" _But I know you probably have some friends here too. You'd have to leave them, I'm sorry to say, but if you're like me, that wouldn't-"_

 _It stumbled over its words. "That wouldn't be so hard."_

 _Friends... Ditto knew some of the Pokémon here at a personal level, but it would not say it particularly liked any of them so much that it would miss them if it left. It had not even been around long enough to make those kinds of connections, it realized. Limber was right. That would not be so hard._

 _A few contemplative moments later, it had made up its mind. It wanted to learn more about these Grace, and becoming a better battler in the process would be a welcomed change. It would trust Limber with this one._

 _It wiggled affirmatively. Whatever was coming for it, it would be ready to try taking it on._

" _Oh, brilliant!" Grace cried. "Let's see, what kind of Ball would you like?"_

 _Ball? She shuffled around in her pockets. "Oh, I know! This one's perfect."_

 _The sphere she took out now was dominantly white, a red stripe crossing the middle. "Now, this might feel a little weird, but it'll only work if you don't resist it, okay?"_

 _Ditto jiggled slightly, oblivious to what she meant. It would not be the first time._

" _Alright. Now hold still, I don't have quite the best aim."_

 _Then she threw the sphere right at it. Told not to move or resist, it had no choice but to brace itself for the impact._

 _Then the sphere tapped its top, but gently; it did not hurt. Then it retracted, opened like Limber's did, and allowed another light to flood out._

 _Ditto felt itself coming undone in a way completely unlike deforming - like the very fabric of its body was unraveling. All it felt was the sensation of being pulled in... and something about it was enjoyable._

 _It heard a clicking sound as all went dark. Its body was still out of shape, but it could still hear and feel and - it was discovering, as in the hypnagogia that surrounded it - see. But its senses were all muffled. It shuddered._

 _It was told not to move or resist, so it quelled its curiosity for just long enough that its container stopped moving and it experienced, for the first time in its life, true stillness._

 _Then everything heaved. It was being picked up. No; thrown upwards. What was happening!? If it was in its normal body, it probably would have heaved and thrown up itself. But it did not want to think about that._

 _Suddenly it felt an opening, and light. It felt warm. Then it materialized, as if Transforming from nothing into a Ditto. That would take getting used to._

 _It blinked a few times. Yes, this was itself; its own body. And the Grace was standing in front of it._

" _Good choice," she said. "Welcome to the team..."_

 _She looked it up and down. "...Imposter."_

* * *

Froakie's voice snapped it out of its flashback. "Dude, what was all that? Dreaming or something? Whatever was just goin' on in your head, I couldn't see it, you know. Spill!"

Imposter blinked back to reality. It shook its head. "Oh, it's nothing... I was just thinking... um..." Well, Froakie had told it his personal secret, and it might as well return the favor. "This... this is the place I came from before... before Grace found me. It's crazy, how much I'm remembering about it."

Froakie's eyes widened. "Oh." Then, "So wait, that means there might be Pokémon here you used to know! Wouldn't it be exciting to meet up with them again?"

Imposter's face dropped. "I-I mean, I was right when I decided to leave," it lamented. "I might have said it before, but I don't really miss them."

As if pondering the best way to continue the conversation, Froakie paused. "Well - it might be good to anyway. To at least say a proper goodbye. I don't really miss all my siblings, but - I mean - I would have wanted to say goodbye to them."

Imposter hummed. "Guess you're right, but... I mean, these aren't the _nicest_ Pokémon you'll ever meet. Most of them don't really like people, for some reason... they wouldn't let me get close enough to ever Transform into one, not until Grace."

A moment of silence, then it spoke again: "I do miss her. I had no idea how lucky I was that she picked me, how nice of a person she is... I want to see her again, Froakie. Soon. While I'm still close to the last Gym, I should challenge it, and then I want to fly back there. She's going to be proud."

It felt awkward realizing it had said all that out loud to Froakie, knowing he would be taking it all in. But it was already out there. It just had to wait for a response.

"Well - I'm down for anything, I guess. I'd rather stay there than Coldsnow City."

"Snowbelle City?"

"Whatever."

"Come on, you weren't even close."

Froakie shook his head, then reached far down Imposter's right arm and hopped off its shoulder. "I'd like to take a look around here. Even if I don't get to meet any of your old buddies, it's still a nice place to be. Look at all the flowers..."

Imposter gazed around at the field. Wrapped up in its memories, it did not even get the chance to realize how pretty it all looked. Hesitantly it lowered itself to a sitting position, knees bent halfway in front of it and arms holding its weight backwards. It closed its eyes. There was a breeze. This was nice.

After a while it felt Froakie lean against its leg. After another while it heard him yelling.

"Hey, whatcha doin' over there? Paws off that bag!"

Imposter's eyes shot open, its gaze darting around the scene. To its left a Gothorita was rooting through its bag, tossing out balls and berries. "Uh - hey, what do you think you're-"

A voice much lower and raspier than expected for a Gothorita replied hastily. "Grahh. Got me. Guess I'll just _look, a flying Diglett!"_

Imposter whipped around to where the Gothorita pointed, having fallen for the obvious distraction; it whipped back to find that Froakie had not, and was chasing the Pokémon - who was clutching various balls in his hands - into the flowerbed.

"Hey, come back here with those! My friends are in there!" it cried above Froakie's angry yells. The smaller Water-Type unleashed a Hydro Pump up to the opponent's face.

As if witnessing a deformation, Gothorita's image flickered and was quickly replaced by something much larger, darker, and more menacing.

Imposter recognized the Pokémon fairly quickly, but could not recall its name. He and Froakie kept exchanging moves and insults, with Imposter sitting there in panic.

That was it. "Z-Zoroark!"

The two combatants froze and looked to it. "I-I know you. How could I forget - all those times you used your Illusions to trick me into thinking you could Transform too - what are you doing with those balls?"

Zoroark stuttered. He looked confusedly to Froakie. "What is this imbecile talking about? I'm rescuing these Pokémon from him. Humans have no right to confine and use them like that."

Imposter swallowed, then shook its head. "No, no, wait, I'm begging! You don't understand, I'm a Pokémon too! I'm-"

It decided to show him firsthand; it deformed on the spot. "I'm a Ditto."

The look of disgust on Zoroark's face could not have been more intense if he had just witnessed the digestive process of a Swalot.

"Why the heck-"

"Can I have my friends back?"

He stopped. "What-What are you going to do with them? What are you even doing, going around like a - like one of those _cretins?_ "

"Listen, people aren't so bad," Imposter started. "I think they're real neat. They've been nothing but nice to me since the day I left this place."

Zoroark paused and slightly sneered.

"You, on the other hand," the Ditto was slowly realizing, "You never liked me at all, did you? Do you even remember all the days you'd tell me you could Transform better than I ever could - that you could turn items into other items, or even change other people? You just did that to mess with me, and whenever one of the kind old humans came along, you were hostile to them. Just like you tried to be to me, just now."

"I-I don't... I don't know what you're talking about. Just - get out of here."

"Not without my friends."

Zoroark growled. "Whatever's in these balls, they don't deserve to be carried around by some clown like you..."

Imposter sighed. "Figures you wouldn't understand. Froakie... I know you want to. Go ahead."

"Heh." Froakie laughed. "Didn't need your permission, was just waiting for the right time. And with that-"

 _Froakie used Hydro Pump!  
_ _The wild Zoroark fainted!_

Froakie nabbed the stolen balls, bounding along back to the Ditto. "Mm. I see why you weren't thrilled about meeting anyone here. If everyone is like that, maybe we should just leave."

Imposter thought a bit. "I guess so. It's - well - I'm really sorry you had to see that."

"See what? You didn't do anything wrong. Pokémon are jerks all the time. You think I haven't seen worse? I grew up with _Chesnaught_."

"No, I mean, I... I don't know what came over me. I'm never like that. Never... what's the word..."

"...Angry?"

Imposter stopped. "Er, I think, yeah. It didn't feel right. Like I could have handled it more civilly, you know?"

"Hah!" The look Froakie had confused Imposter. It was too proud. "You handled that perfectly! Finally sticking up for yourself, not being such a pushover anymore. You gotta remember this. If someone's treating you badly, ya can't just let them. You tried convincing him the right way, but some people just don't listen. I won't hold it against ya. Here, take your balls and let's get outta this place. You've got a Gym badge to grab, right?"

~ _End of Part 8~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _Serena was already going to wind up with some kind of injury as a result of the Team Flare plot, but choosing where took a bit of thought. How well the wrist works out is funny enough because that was the site of my worst injury too - same wrist and everything. It wasn't a fracture though, it was a sprain. (If you must know, I slipped on a rock that I knew was wet. On the first day of vacation. It was more annoying than painful, I'll admit.)_

* * *

 **Double fun fact (this doesn't really have to do with the story, more the games), your rival's dad can be found in Snowbelle City. His dialogue changes depending on their gender, meaning that has to be him. So have a VW, on the house.**

 **Oh, Imposter. Little guy grew up so fast. Erm, something about writing the flashback part has me all feelsy right now, so I'm just gonna go...**


	25. Chapter 25

The two Pokémon's conversations on the way back to Snowbelle City were scrambled and directionless, but meaningful all the same. They spoke of their past lives, of their journey so far, of the slain Team Flare. By the time they got back to the city, their attitudes were jovial enough that they did not notice so much just how frigid the area was at midnight.

The Gym itself was closed for the day, of course, so the hotel would be their home tonight. The bed was rickety and the covers were thin, so Imposter opted to sleep in its Ball and let Froakie have the bed to himself.

Hours later, in the dead of the night, the Ditto felt itself turning over in its space. As light flowed in, it officially woke up and materialized. The room was still almost pitch black, but it could make out Froakie's silhouette.

"Dude!" he cried frantically, "Somethin' ain't right out here. Lotsa noise and I don't like it. It doesn't sound good."

Imposter yawned. "You need my help with something?"

Froakie tripped on his words, clearly still half-asleep. "Well I - your friend, I heard Pigtails's voice. Dunno if she's in trouble or-"

Before Froakie could say another word, the Ditto in front of him had zipped into the form of a human, already bounding for the door. He took a second to bask in its urgency, then hopped along behind.

The first thing Imposter noticed upon throwing open the door to its room was that finally, it felt something warm in this town.

Then it heard her voice.

Coming from the room right next door, wavering as if in fear. It ran, tripped, stumbled up to its feet, jogged to her door, and burst in.

The small column of fire spouting up from the center of the room took it aback for a moment, but Froakie was quicker. While Shauna and her Delphox met Imposter's eyes, Froakie launched a Hydro Pump at the flames.

Within moments, the fire was put out and everyone seemed to relax a little.

"I-Imposter... Hey."

Awkward as ever, Shauna hastily stood up. "Uh, sorry about all the ruckus, that wasn't my best idea yet, was it..?"

Idea? Imposter had to hear this.

"Wait, wait a second, are you okay? You look - I don't know. Pale? I can't place it. But ya look kind of - wrong. Not normal, you know?"

It did not look normal? That made sense, now that Imposter had the time to think of it. It had rushed this Transformation so much that it did not even think to consult its Trainer Card. It would not be surprised if it had accidentally grown a tail.

The gravity of this realization and the embarrassment it caused sent a rush of blood to Imposter's head, its vision going blurry. It tried to take a step and found itself collapsing into the purple blob of its natural form.

"Uh - I'm so sorry, did I do that?" Shauna worried, stepping up to the queasy Ditto. "Well - it's-it's okay now. Right? Sorry if I scared you. It's actually pretty embarrassing, I was cold and I thought having Delphox here make us a fire would make it nicer. But it got a little out of control and I didn't have a Water-Type like you do, so I didn't know what to do."

Imposter exhaled sharply in relief that everything was okay now. It was okay. Nobody was hurt, but now - especially now that Shauna mentioned it - they could all feel the cold.

"Anyway, uh, I'm back." She giggled a little. "I said I wouldn't be long! I still need the badge! Oh, and Serena's doing pretty okay. I was surprised that you didn't want to come say hey, but I can see not wanting to fly so far away just for a short visit. She uh... she says hi."

She did. That was good. So she was not mad for it leaving her underground? Also good.

"I mean, she was pretty cranky for us leaving her underground, and I think she wanted to see you there for her again, but I'm sure it's all okay!"

Imposter's one-dimensional face flattened. If ever there was a human less intelligent than even it, it wondered if that would be her.

"Listen, it's pretty late and I'm getting tired, so I think we should wrap this up. Do you want me to take you to your room? Er, are you good?"

It was good, and it would have liked to express this to her if she was any better at interpreting its gesticulations. But alas, she was not, and it was not spared the unsturdy ride back in her hands.

Neither was Froakie, apparently, although he was taken by Delphox. Shauna quickly said her good-nights and scuttled nervously away. Delphox closed the door behind her, but not before looking coyly at Froakie.

"Yeah, and you're welcome for putting the fire out!" he called, just loud enough for them to hear but not loud enough to disturb everyone. "The one you started, and you couldn't even control it..."

Imposter was about to go back into its Ball when it remembered. "Wait, that's right. Froakie, I have been meaning to ask. You always seem unhappy whenever Delphox and Chesnaught show up. Why?"

Froakie paused. "That was a little out of nowhere," he commented, but went on anyway. "I mean, we never really got along, but you already knew that. It's a little more complicated... to tell the truth, I just find it unfair that them lot is - well, evolved. And you see the way they've been treating me? Like some kid. And I'm older than the two of them. I don't imagine you know what that's like?"

Imposter stopped. "Did-Did you want to evolve?"

"Did I - well, of course I wanted to! Who wants to be stuck at one foot tall with just one Type and a high-pitched voice their whole life? Er, no offense."

Imposter laughed. "No offense? Who's stuck at one foot and one Type? I'm a Ditto, silly! I can be any Type, or any size..."

It stopped when it noticed that this was exactly Froakie's problem: that he was the one needing consolation.

"What I meant was, uh - evolving probably isn't that different from Transforming. Like, here, wait a second."

It reached into its bag, grabbed its Pokédex, and loaded a certain page. There. It looked between the device and its friend, closed its eyes, and let instincts take over.

"See, now here I am," it started, now an exact image of Froakie. "I'm you. And you, you want to be-"

It held up its Pokédex, took a good look, and shifted again. "-This." It was now a Frogadier - similar-looking to Froakie, but notably larger, with longer limbs and darker coloring. "See how quickly I did that? You've got it pretty well off, this one's relatively easy. You could have been like Bergmite and Avalugg - they have to double their size, not to mention their whole anatomy flipping upside-down. Some Pokémon have to grow heads or limbs when they evolve, and then others _lose_ them. What you'd be doing is simpler. You want me to show you? I've tutored some of the other Ditto from time to time, helping them Transform better. Maybe it'll work with you?"

Froakie yawned a little. "Can't hurt to try I guess."

Imposter nodded, then turned back into its friend. "Now, lessee... I guess we should start with the outside."

"The... outside."

"Well, yeah. If you started with the inside you'd pop."

Froakie's eyes widened. "Okay then."

"Now what you want to do... uh... Well, whenever I Transform it just kind of comes naturally, but it takes a lot of - focus. It starts in your head. Try to envision your subject, standing right where you are, and try to fill in its silhouette with your body. It's uh... Saying it out loud, it's a bit hard to explain to a full-time."

Froakie nodded as if he had gotten that last part very well. Imposter sighed.

"With the other Ditto, at least they already know how to consciously change their bodies. This is going to be a tad harder than I expected."

Froakie humph-ed. "I'll get it. I'm sure. Wild Pokémon evolve all the time! Under the right-"

He stopped. "...Conditions."

"What kind of conditions?"

"Well, you know - er, you don't evolve, so I guess you don't. But, battling a lot. Levelling up. It isn't exactly that way with all Pokémon that can evolve, but I've been told that for us Froakie, it is. And I know I'm ready for it. I - feel it inside of me. Have ever since, well, the first time we came to Lumiose, I think."

Oh. That was a long time ago. "Well, why haven't you done it yet, then?"

"I already told you! I don't know!"

He calmed down immediately, trying to speak a little quieter. "I mean, I've wanted to, it just never felt right, and didn't happen. It's hard to explain."

Imposter giggled. "We're a mess, aren't we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're just so different, from different places, and we can each do different things. All that you're saying sounds way more complicated than Transforming! After all, nothing I can do can ever be permanent, but when you change, you can never go back. How can they be the same thing?"

Froakie sighed. "I guess that makes sense. Anyway, I'll figure it all out one day. Besides, it's cold! Have you not noticed how cold it was?"

Oh, Imposter noticed. It could see its breath as it said, "Gosh, I thought you'd never say that. Being stick-thin doesn't help much either. And I thought _I_ had it bad in the Frost Cavern - at least I had clothes!"

Froakie's normally genial attitude sunk a little at the mention of the Frost Cavern, and their experience with Team Flare there. Imposter looked down, and slowly deformed. "But I get what you mean. It is late. Big day tomorrow, with the Gym fight and everything."

"M-hm," Froakie agreed. "Uh, Imposter, I was just joking around with the whole evolving thing. It's not really important. It was all a joke. Got you. Should have seen your face. Ha."

Imposter skeptically smirked. "You're delusional, Froakie. If you really were joking, you would have called me a noodle."

Froakie shrugged. "Eh, true," he admitted. "Anyway, I hafta turn in. Frog's gotta sleep."

He waddled over to the bed, placed his forelegs delicately on the side, crouched appropriately and leapt up. The silhouette of his head poked over the edge just long enough for him to say a proper good-night, then he disappeared into the darkness.

With a visible sigh, Imposter turned to its own Ball, comfy and warm as ever. Eyes closed, it started turning red.

Then it had a thought. The creaking bed and Froakie's light but uncomfortable snoring tore it from its luxurious home.

The wooden floorboards underneath it gave noisily, and the splinters it threatened to give made Imposter reconsider its plan; but it kept going anyway.

The blanket and sheets were in complete disarray once it got up there, but that only made it easier to find Froakie, wrapped up in the center of it. Imposter smiled. This, in addition to the body heat, would be plenty warm enough. It snuggled down. For what hours remained tonight, it knew Froakie would not mind.

* * *

Something felt - wrong when Imposter woke up.

For one, it was much warmer than it remembered being when it fell back to sleep. For two, it was sure that it was not Transformed while it was asleep, but now it clearly had limbs. Great - it realized suddenly that it was Froakie again. Sleep-Transforming did not happen to it often, but usually it only did when it was especially tired.

Which Imposter was right now, so it opted to give up its consciousness again as soon as it could. Unfortunately, the presence of a third body in the bed made this difficult.

Imposter gently opened its eyes, blinking away crust, finding a human arm wrapped around it. Apparently Shauna had come in at some point and joined them. It would have been completely fine with this, if the situation did not prevent it from getting back to sleep - or moving.

It squirmed a bit. It really was stuck between the two bodies, and although it was warm, it was painfully uncomfortable.

It sighed and reluctantly deformed. It would have to shrink. Deep breath, then - compress!

After reaching about six inches, it tried again - shuffling successfully out of its friends' grasp. Breath released, height regained. Well, it was up now. Especially after its failed attempt to check the time by the sun - its light had reflected off of every snow-covered surface in the town, causing the Ditto's weak eyes to burn. It would try to remember that.

Only thing left to do was wake everyone else up, it figured.

Froakie was first, since he was not always a heavy sleeper. He jolted awake pretty easily. Shauna, on the other hand, needed a gentle Hydro Pump to be stirred.

"Waah!" she cried, "Drowning-! Whuh - wait, I'm-"

She spotted Froakie, who shrugged innocently. She sighed. "Ugh. And I didn't even mean to fall asleep... curse frog Pokémon for always being so dang cute..."

She sopped off the watery bed and gently inspected her clothes. "Aw, c'mon, they're all ruined! And my hair! That was quite rude of you Froakie."

"Heh. Well, it got you up, didn't it?" he remarked, mostly to himself.

She shook her head. "Whatever, I have warmer clothes in my room anyway. I'm going to go change, then I guess you want to head out, huh?"

The two Pokémon eagerly nodded. She sighed again. "Well, I guess this was my fault anyway. See y'all in a few minutes."

So she slowly and carefully dripped water across the room until she was out of sight.

Imposter looked to Froakie and shared a smile. It felt bad that they had caused its friend distress, but apparently Froakie found enjoyment out of it, and seeing him happy again was a promising sign for a good day.

* * *

"Are you ready?"

The Snowbelle City Gym was more of a thinking puzzle than any of the others so far, and Imposter knew it had issues with that; so it let Shauna lead the way using a tool she said Clemont invented. If not for that, the two might not have made it to Wulfric's chamber within the week.

But here they were, warm as ever and in a battling mood. Beside Imposter, Shauna was proudly displaying her new Glacier Badge, actively cheering it on.

Since this was only her sixth badge, the Leader decided to battle her first; he would be using a weaker version of the team reserved for Imposter, and letting it go first would unfairly spoil his best tactics for her. But now it was its turn.

Imposter smirked, Ball in hand. "Ditto?"

"Wah-ha-hah!" Wulfric bellowed. "You are funny Pokémon! This will be entertaining battle, yes!"

The foreign accent seeping into his words made them somewhat difficult for Imposter to understand, but Imposter was not bothered. Human language always felt more complicated than Pokémon speak. "Ditto!"

Wulfric smiled, withdrawing his own Ball. "Bring it on, then."

 _You are challenged by Leader Wulfric!_

The Gym Leader sent out his Cryogonal first, and Imposter - as unpredictable as ever - sent out Ditto.

Oh. Imposter grinned mischievously. "Confuse Ray," it ordered. For as often as it found itself confused about everyday subjects, it was uncommon that it experienced move-induced Confusion. When it did... battling was the last thing it was capable of doing properly.

 _Ditto used Confuse Ray!  
_ _Cryogonal was confused!  
_ _Cryogonal used Night Slash!_

Imposter was confused.

"Uh, what is it slashing with?"

Ditto grunted. "Here, I'll show you."

It did an aerial spin, drawing out two icy, whisker-like strands until they were each at maximum length. It then floated out to the opponent, draping its whiskers in dark energy. One, then the other, streaked across the opposing Cryogonal.

 _A critical hit!  
_ _The opposing Cryogonal is confused!  
_ _It hurt itself in its confusion!  
_ _The opposing Cryogonal fainted!_

Shauna's face was flat. "The RNG is strong with this one," she mumbled to no one in particular. Something about that comment made Imposter amusedly proud. She had hardly ever seen it battle, and was just now realizing how lucky it tended to be with these things.

Wulfric sent in his next, a Beartic. Imposter and Ditto looked determinedly at it, persistence in their eyes.

Beartic glared, then stepped back; in front of him stood a small green Poké Doll.

Shauna beamed. "Hah! A Substitute? Imposter here would never fall for th-"

"Ditto, Night Slash again, quick!"

It was pointing directly at the figure, and Cryogonal shot forwards in another move. It slapped around the plush Rhydon until it popped out of existence.

Imposter's eyes widened, then it cheered. "Hey, you really got him... _wait._ "

Its eyes narrowed when it realized the real Beartic was standing right in front of it, forming a large fist and tightening its focus.

"Uh - uh - he's back. G-Get him, it looks like he's about to-"

"No worries, Impo," Ditto spat before Night Slashing again.

 _The opposing Beartic lost its focus and couldn't move!_

"Aw, yeah. Going smoothly, it's all going smoothly. This is great. How many more do you have?"

"Two."

Imposter nodded. "Keep going then."

 _Ditto used Night Slash!  
_ _Beartic used Icicle Crash!  
_ _Ditto fainted!_

Imposter bit its lip. It was not ready for that.

"F-Fine, okay, come on back then," it said, holding up Ditto's Ball. "You did really well."

Ditto dematerialized, and Imposter rotated in the next one. Immediately the two battlers locked eyes, focusing hard.

Imposter and Wulfric, from behind their Pokémon, locked eyes too. Whoever moved first would be the one to carry on, and Beartic knew a Fighting-Type move; even Imposter knew it would be good to have one of those.

One could hear a pin drop in the silence before either attacked, that was how much the Pokémon refused to drop their guard.

Then Wulfric spoke. "Beartic, n-"

" _Now,_ Ditto!"

The two rushed into each other, fists glowing and teeth bared. When the dust cleared, only one ice bear was still standing.

This one looked Imposter in the eyes, and once it registered, the Ditto threw its own fists up in celebration.

"Woo! Focus Punch! Ditto, I'm so proud of you!"

On the sidelines, Shauna was squeezing Froakie harder than he looked comfortable with. Her smile took up half her face.

Still grinning like a kid, Imposter faced the Gym Leader. He had two more, it had four and a Focus Punch. Imposter liked those odds.

Wulfric sent out his third. Imposter's mouth opened. "Avalugg?"

He was an Avalugg, all right, just like the one Imposter met at the Frost Cavern. But this one did not seem to recognize the Ditto, and he looked a lot - cleaner, too. It was easy to tell the difference between the wild one it knew and this trained one.

Regardless of whether or not it knew the opponent, however, Imposter had a plan, and it was sticking to it. "Focus Punch, again!"

Ditto's eyes narrowed, its fist glowing again; but it seemed Wulfric was not about to fall to the same fate twice.

"My Avalugg, do Crunch."

 _Ditto lost its focus and couldn't move!_

"Hm-" Imposter paused. The move had failed. But it knew Swords Dance and Substitute would not do damage and Icicle Crash would not do enough, so it tried again.

" _Focus Punch."_

 _Ditto is tightening its focus!  
_ _The opposing Avalugg tucked in its head!_

Tucked in its head? His head was glowing in the same way that Beartic's fist was, but he was not attacking yet. It seemed to be a defensive position.

Imposter did not mind though. As long as he was not attacking, it was fine. "As soon as you can, Ditto."

Ditto gritted its teeth, then bolted forwards, reared back, and crashed its fist into the glacier.

 _The opposing Avalugg fainted!_

"Yes!" While Imposter literally felt the cold all over its body, it felt like it was figuratively on fire. Two one-hit knock-outs in a row was better than it had done in a long time, especially in Gym battles. Now all it had left was Wulfric's Mega Pokémon, whatever it was. And it still had four Ditto left to knock it out with.

It finally sunk in; if it defeated this next Pokémon, it would never have to battle a Gym Leader again. Its adventure was nearly over.

It had no more time to mull over this now, for Wulfric's last was finally out.

Abomasnow.

Its thoughts on this were stopped short by a ball of ice landing on its head; then another. Snow Warning. The Abomasnow had somehow made it hail indoors, and Imposter, being a Pokémon itself, was still liable to take damage from it.

"Apologies, lad," Wulfric explained. "Normally I send Abomasnow first, like with friend before. But I know you are Pokémon, and vill get hurt. So I send Abomasnow last. Make hail last shorter."

Imposter looked up. That was - actually really polite. But the constant bonks on its head were not helping its concentration. All the more reason to finish this battle quickly, then.

"Eh, Ditto, got any more? Focus Punch again, let's be done with it."

 _Ditto is tightening its focus!_

Wulfric smirked. "But who said battle would be so easy?"

 _The opposing Abomasnow's Abomasite is reacting to Wulfric's Mega Locket!_

The trademark glow of a Key Stone this time came from the small metal case hanging around the Gym Leader's neck. Once again, Imposter watched in awe as a non-Ditto underwent the temporary transformation known as Mega Evolution.

Ditto was still focusing. Imposter was beginning to worry. Another bonk. Ouch.

"You haff been lucky so far," Wulfric noted, calling back its fortune with Confusion and critical hits. "But now is my torn. Abomasnow. Sheer Cold."

The two Ditto exchanged frightened glances as Mega Abomasnow charged up the move - freezing the very air around it. Imposter had seen this before; the Abomasnow used by Team Flare's Red Mask used the move to knock out the Ditto turned into her partner's Braviary. That one had to sit out of the Gym battle the next day due to lingering damage.

"D-Ditto... I'm so sorry..."

Ditto's eyes narrowed, its still-glowing fist indicating that it was trying to keep its focus. "It could miss," it suggested.

 _Abomasnow used Sheer Cold!  
_ _It's a One-Hit KO!  
_ _Ditto fainted!_

Imposter gasped and fell to its knees, catching its friend's body. The battler had been knocked backwards a couple yards, and beaten out of form. It was now just a purple blob again.

"Uh - wow - my friend, you were amazing," Imposter stuttered. "I'm sorry. It's all over now."

Third Ditto out. How Imposter wished it could have Transformed into an Ice-Type like its friend did, to stop feeling this terrible hail.

Wulfric's Pokémon moved first, extending roots from its feet deep into the ground. Ingrain. It might as well use that too.

Then Mega Abomasnow reared up and snapped forwards in a nasty Wood Hammer. Ditto rocked back as though the wind had been knocked out of it, but stayed firmly in place.

In response to Imposter's orders, it breathed in deeply and charged a Blizzard. Imposter could see how much power the move had, frozen winds whipping up around the room. Abomasnow took it better than Imposter would have liked, but one or two more would surely finish it.

"Is almost over. Vood Hammer," Wulfric spoke.

Imposter was almost sure that this move would cause Ditto to faint, based on its grunts of pain and uneven breaths. But it still stood. More hail hit Imposter, but it no longer cared. The recoil from the opponent's Wood Hammer put him at just the right level of damage that Blizzard, if it hit, could win Imposter the match.

"Ditto! Do that again."

Ditto smirked.

 _..._

 _The opposing Abomasnow fainted!_

Imposter's eyes widened. This was it - right? It and its team had done it; they had beaten every one of Kalos's Gyms now. This time, its feet were slowly turning to jelly in excitement rather than fear.

The hail stopped.

It exchanged grateful looks with Ditto, then called its friend back for a rest. It fixed its feet.

"Hmph," Wulfric laughed. "I am no good at being eighth Leader. The Ice-Type is glass cannon Type, and can be beaten easily if foe has right Pokémon. I did not zink so, but seems you do, lad. Congratulations."

 _You defeated Leader Wulfric!_

"Whoo! Go Imposter! Eight Gym badges, yeah! So awesome, so awesome..!" Shauna was spouting it all from yards away, but her words were loud and clear.

The Ditto ignored its personal cheerleader, focusing instead on Wulfric. Between his fingers glistened the small piece of metal that signified the Ditto's achievement.

"Take this. You are now first Pokémon to beat all Kalos Leaders vile acting as trainer. Er, any Kalos Leaders, actually," he added.

 _Imposter received the Glacier Badge from Wulfric!_

"Good show, trainer. You are now free to challenge Pokémon League to west uff here. But vill not be easy. Train hard and you might see success in some form."

It all sounded so exciting to the Ditto. Even humans were sometimes unable to do what it just did - it really felt like one of them. It looked sideways to Shauna. One of them indeed.

* * *

The next month unraveled more slowly than the past two and a half weeks.

With Team Flare ceasing to cause problems in the region and those taking the Gym challenge more or less done with it, Imposter and its human friends were now free to move along at their own pace. Of course, Serena was still holed up in Vaniville Town, and the others visited her often; especially Imposter, who stayed in the house next door for most of that time. It had come for its trainer, Grace - she was exuberantly proud of all it had accomplished, naturally - but meeting up with Serena again kept it there.

Shauna popped by often, too, although she was busier; a couple days after Imposter's final Gym badge, it had tagged along with her to watch her get her seventh. This would be Grant's, which confused Imposter: it knew she had passed by Cyllage City before she stopped battling Gyms, but apparently skipped this one. When approached about it, she explained that she was in no mood for battles the first time she was in Cyllage. That was shortly after the Parfum Palace incident, she had said, and refused to talk about it further.

Later she took Serena out to Lumiose City for a bit of shopping - Serena's favorite outfit was utterly destroyed under Geosenge, from the broken lenses of her sunglasses to the torn socks to the missing pleats in her skirt, which had been used in a makeshift tourniquet along with one of Chesnaught's quills. When the two returned to Vaniville, Serena was dressed in a blue and white version of her normally red and black high-waisted dress, with a new hat and bag to match. Shauna said she could not find anything for herself, but curiously brought Imposter back a new outfit. Golden-cuffed blue jeans and a snazzy black jacket to go over its normal undershirt; it did not know how to tell her that it had no need for clothes, since it just Transformed them (Serena said she had tried telling her that, too), and it did not want to sound ungrateful; so it accepted them anyway. As time passed it got more and more used to the new look; practice Transforming without the normal blue jacket and jeans took a while, but it eventually got the hang of it. If only because Froakie kept guilting it into wearing the new things so Shauna did not have to feel bad about spending money on them.

Three days after that was her last Gym: Olympia's. Joining her there gave Imposter the chance to experience going through the Gym itself, which it had never done due to the teleporters causing it to deform. It had unsuccessfully battled Olympia's eighth-badge team what seemed like countless times, but Shauna was able to walk away with the badge after only her first try.

"It's all thanks to my li'l Phantump," she remarked. "Those Psychics never knew what hit 'em!"

Delphox had taken a cautious step backwards at that.

The next day Trevor and Tierno had joined Imposter and a very surprised Serena to give Shauna a proper sendoff for Victory Road. She said she felt bad for everything that happened to Serena in Geosenge, and wanted to grow more - as a person and a trainer - so that if anything happened again, she would be better able to handle it.

(She also added jokingly that if she was ever going to beat the Champion, she would have to do it now before that person became Serena. Serena herself said that was only halfway funny.)

And so the weeks passed. Shauna had come back unsuccessfully every once in a while, but kept trying. Serena said she appreciated that; the younger girl was truly evolving as a person, like she said she wanted to.

And to symbolize this, the next time Shauna appeared in Vaniville Town, Serena had made the girl an offer. She removed the Everstone from her Phantump, explained the joke she had played upon trading her to Shauna, and finally aided in the Pokémon's evolution.

Although Imposter and VW had been keeping her company during these weeks, Serena still showed signs of restlessness - even a few times trying to fly away to Victory Road to make her own attempts at the League. She was always foiled, however; sometimes by her father and his Pokémon, sometimes by the Victory Road medical support staff who would not admit her on account of her arm, even once by Imposter, albeit unwittingly. It was late one night that it stayed over at her house, and the Ditto was having trouble sleeping. If it remembered that it could - and there was room for it - it was able to solve this problem by simply Transforming into Snorlax and using Rest. This night, it happened to do that... right in front of the front door. Even if Serena had a Poké Flute to play, the cast would prevent her from even holding it properly.

But Serena was stubborn. If she could not battle the current Kalos Champion, she would practice against a past one. Imposter often spectated these battles she waged against her father, if only to experience their Pokémon's majesty. Her Absol, his Alakazam; her Vaporeon, his Darmanitan; her Meowstic, his Swalot. He used a lot of Pokémon not native to Kalos, so it was always interesting.

After these battles, and sometimes during them, it would still receive lip from Chesnaught about how he was right about it being a Ditto, and now everyone knew it. These comments mainly unphased Imposter, although Froakie continued to be on edge whenever it came up.

Imposter did pity Serena, though. Humans as a species appeared to have side dominance, meaning it was easier to do certain things with a specific side of their body. One of these things was throw Poké Balls, and for Serena, the casted hand was the one she used that for. Throwing with her left like Imposter tended to was not impossible, but the throws always looked clumsy and awkward. And while her Key Stone still worked, it was completely naked - losing the Mega Ring meant she had to hold it up in her hand to use it. She said it was painfully hot to the touch when it started glowing.

Another thing she could no longer do with her casted hand was write. Imposter tried suggesting she do it with her other hand, but the other humans patiently explained that that was not quite as easy as throwing a ball.

Of course, the Ditto did not know what all this fuss was about writing; how important it was or why Serena was so frustrated by the fact that she could not do it. Finally she off-handedly explained that it was an alternate form of communication humans used when normal speech was inconvenient or impossible.

That got Imposter's attention fast. Serena did not seem eager to tell it more, but went on anyway; all a human needed was some paper and an item she called a "pencil." And a working dominant hand, she had added grumpily.

Imposter knew Froakie had some basic understanding of the symbols humans used for this, but upon further consultation he proved useless in teaching it. All he knew about letters, he claimed, he picked up while half-paying attention to Sycamore's scribbles when he lived with him weeks ago.

Of course; Sycamore was the scholarly type, and Lumiose was not far from Vaniville for those going by wing. The professor, previously informed of its real species, was happy to show Imposter everything it wanted to know.

It was never a fast learner, of course, but its love for human culture and Sycamore's willingness to help it kept Imposter coming back for more lessons.

At first, Froakie hated the idea of going back to Lumiose so often, especially to that building. But it seemed that Sycamore was fine with Froakie's decision to release himself, seeing no reason to separate the Pokémon friends. Once he heard that, Froakie would almost beg to go back every day; he usually kept to himself when he went, not bothering Imposter's learning, but basking in the site of his own previous life.

Naturally, it was Serena who started asking it about the Pokémon League first. Still confused about what was meant by this, Imposter shrugged off the question. But then others started taking interest too - VW, Grace, Shauna, on her occasional visits, and even Sycamore. It had beat all the Gyms, and so had Serena and Shauna, who did it with the intention to beat the Elite Four later. Why, then, everyone asked, would it refrain from joining them? The main reason was simply that it did not know exactly what that would entail. Serena and VW sat the Ditto down and had a long conversation with it about the League: what its challengers should expect; how difficult it was; the long and arduous mountain road that preceded it; the enthralling battles that were sure to await the Ditto if it decided to try it. Serena seemed hesitant about whether it would be able to win with only five Pokémon, especially Ditto - gimmicky battlers at best, useless breeders at worst. She then remarked that she would have said that at the start of Imposter's journey, too, and it had proved her wrong so far. If anyone could beat the Champion using five Ditto - only four with a useful ability - Serena reasoned that it would be one of them.

The others all thought similarly. Grace teared up in pride whenever she talked about her own Pokémon aiming for the League. Sycamore said Diantha would love to see it at least try to take down the Four. Shauna said she was expecting Imposter to do it since the beginning, because it was so good at battling.

Imposter was at an impasse. It was curious to try, of course, and its team gradually grew antsy without having a good battle within a few weeks. All but Limber, who seemed down ever since Imposter decided not to use it in its final Gym battle.

Imposter tried explaining that the situation just never called for it; that if the battle got really rough it would have certainly included it. But some battles could have been beaten with less than five members, and this was one of them. The Ditto who had swept through two Pokémon with Focus Punch talked with it later about how it was nothing personal, and besides - Sheer Cold hurt a lot; Imposter was doing it a favor by keeping it safe from that move.

A few weeks of thought and some inspiring words from VW later, Imposter and its whole team reached an agreement: they would try the League, but at their own pace. Secretly Imposter realized how thrilled it was about this. After all, it had wanted to blend in with humans, and this is what humans its age did, so that would be its plan too.

It just had to get itself to go do it.

* * *

The happiest Imposter had ever seen Serena was the day she got her cast off. It was told they would be in Shalour City for most of the day, so it decided to spend the time at Sycamore's until it got the Holo Caster call.

It could not have picked up faster. Both parties were aware that it could not speak, and the conversation would be very one-sided, but neither cared.

"Imposter, hey! It's all over, the cast is gone. Looklooklook!"

She held her arm out in front, displaying it proudly. Imposter was skeptical. She said the cast was off, but something had clearly replaced it.

She must have sensed its question. "What's on there now is just a splint, to make sure it stays protected for the next couple weeks. And guess wha-"

She stopped. "Wait a sec, are you at the lab? Tell Sycamore I say hi, why don't you?"

The professor pulled up next to the Ditto in a rolling desk chair. "He doesn't have to; I'm right here," he explained with a smile. "Let's see it! Looking good. How does it feel?"

"Oh, a lot better. I can move it a lot more, anyway. And I can write again!"

Sycamore clapped. "That's so good to hear. It doesn't hurt?"

"Pshh," Serena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it hurts a lot, but not nearly as badly. Whatever, that doesn't matter, what matters is now I'm healed enough to get back to Victory Road. And here, I also wanted to show you-"

She opened up her palm, where situated in the black leather was a small red and blue stone.

Sycamore recognized it first. "Oh. Your Key Stone," he observed. " _Fantastique_ , it looks so very nice there! I'm sure you and your Pokémon are excited to be on your way, huh?"

Serena's eyes bulged. "Ohohoh, you don't even know, old man!" she joked. "Dad's making me stop back home first, to say some goodbyes and make sure I'm all ready, but once that's all done, you know where I'm headed."

Sycamore smiled again. "That's great. Good luck, although you certainly don't need it."

"Heh. Glad you're so confident; you should see Dad over here. Oh, he knows my _Pokémon_ are strong enough to handle it, but..." She giggled. "You save the world one time, and all of the sudden it's like you're made of glass. He says the Kalos Victory Road is more tame than Hoenn's (he only says that to brag anyway, 'cause that's where he did a lot of training back in the day), but really, I've made it halfway through before. Nothing I can't handle."

Sycamore shook his head. "Well, he's your father. He's supposed to be like that. His parents probably were, and besides, you and your mother are all he has in this region. He hadn't seen much of you before you moved here with him, so naturally he wants to protect you."

That shut her up, for a few seconds. "Well, yeah, I know," she said slowly. "Anyway, it doesn't really matter as long as I really am going, right?"

"'Atta girl," Sycamore decided. "That's the attitude. Now you go out there and make your parents proud."

She nodded confidently. "I will. And what about you, Imposter? I thought you wanted to try it too?"

Oh, no, attention! Imposter was not ready. Its eyes snapped to hers. "I mean, no pressure or anything, but I thought you'd be more excited to. I at least thought that of the three of us, I'd be the last one leaving, what with the..."

She let that out there, brandishing her arm before the Ditto. "But hey, I don't care. Take as much time as you want."

It swallowed, and nodded. It turned to Sycamore, his eyes gently encouraging. Yeah. It might be taking its time, but it was still going to do it.

It knew it was the only one that understood its own words, but it said them anyway. "Yeah, I'm right behind you. As always."

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _Since I made it clear a few chapters ago that the eighth-badge teams for each Gym Leader included three Pokemon in addition to a fourth, which Mega-Evolves, and Wulfric already has a potential Mega in Abomasnow, I needed to find a fourth team member for him. I settled on Beartic (this set specifically) as a reference to Brycen, of whom apparently Wulfric is a fan. This set is the Beartic Brycen uses in the World Leaders/Type Expert tournament in Black 2/White 2._

* * *

 **Ahh long chapter is long. Should explain the late update. Also, few things.**

 **It wasn't made clear in the story, so I'll say it here. The reason Froakie can't evolve is because, at least the way I see it, it's different for wild Pokémon. Captured ones have Poké Balls that keep track of their experience and allow them to reach their evolutionary potential at the soonest possible moment for convenience. With wild ones, as evidenced by the fact that some of them are found at levels where they should not have evolved yet (and the more complicated method of evolving in the wild-only PMD series), the rules are less strict for them. Basically, once the level/item/whatever condition is fulfilled, they can evolve, it just isn't automatic. Hopefully that clears some things up.**

 **And yes, I know that's not Wulfric's actual accent... or speech pattern... or personality. But I heard somewhere someone imagining him with the accent, and it was funny, so... yeah.**

 **And if it wasn't clear what was meant by the Gym Leader's "eighth-badge teams," it's a headcanon of mine that all Gym Leaders have multiple teams at specific levels, each designed to match the difficulty of what the challenger is ready for. So someone starting off in a city with a Dragon-Type Gym can still beat it with their level fifteen starter, and someone finishing in a town with a Bug-Type Gym can still have a challenge.**


	26. Chapter 26

Victory Road.

It was a lot more structured than Imposter imagined.

It had been a day since Serena was splinted and she resumed her trek through it, which Imposter spent filling its bag with all the berries and potions it could need. Grace would not be silenced the whole time, spouting advice and pride in generally equal amounts. This morning it had made sure to conference with VW about strategies it needed in order to get through and eventually win as much as it could, most of it shooting over its head. But it still felt confident. Sycamore, Trevor, and Tierno had joined the two adults to bid it farewell - similar to the way they did for Shauna and Serena, but this time felt the most awkward. While the human girls each had a Flying-Type that could take them to the gate, Imposter had to become one itself. It was probably the only one that minded, however.

And now here it was. The bored-looking Ace Trainer manning admission called this place the "Badge Check Gates" - and, naturally, he checked the Ditto's badges on its Trainer Card.

He looked up skeptically. "Your name is... Imposter."

Imposter nodded.

"Okay... Well, you _have_ all eight badges and an official Kalos League Bronze Card, so I guess I can't argue with that..."

He blew a large pink bubble with his gum, mildly fascinating Imposter, pulled it back into his mouth, and chomped down, cracking it loudly. "So, Imposter, any medical conditions I should know about? Anything that would cause me to get sued if I let you into a perilous mountain road without adult supervision for a week on your own, if you had it?"

That was a lot of words, but Imposter was almost sure the correct answer was no. So it shook its head again.

The Ace Trainer looked it up and down. "Do you speak at all, Imposter?"

Imposter opened its mouth, took a breath, closed it, and shook its head once more.

"Humph, must be one of those Red fans or something. Okay, well, there is one last thing we have to do before letting you in."

He dug around in his back pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball. "We've gotta make sure you really did earn all those badges, that you really are ready. Victory Road isn't for pushovers. We're about to battle, you okay wit' that?"

Imposter grinned. It was okay with that.

* * *

Although it envied all humans at some level, Imposter was less jealous of some than others. Ace Trainer Robert, his name turned out to be, was part of the some. For the person paid to test potential League challengers, his team of Pokémon was one of the less-coordinated that Imposter had seen.

But all that was behind it now; a quick healing session and a moment of reflection later, and it was officially off.

It was dreadfully overcast today, but Imposter did not care; it would have to continue whatever the weather. Its poor sense of direction had not failed to steer it wrong multiple times within the first few hours of the trip, but since it was blissfully unaware of how lost it was, it had no reason to care.

Night had fallen all too quickly the first day. Imposter, too tired to realize how tired it was, would have been just fine continuing its journey in the dark. Ever the voice of reason in the times when it was needed, Froakie was the one to suggest setting up camp like all the other trainers. Its team was equally excited to rest up for the night.

The Ditto did not expect to be given a hard time about wanting to sleep in its Ball like the rest of the team, sheltered from the elements, but once it deformed, put away its clothes, and started dematerializing, Froakie opened up his mouth.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

Imposter stopped. "Um, turning in... I thought you wanted to go to sleep?"

"Yeah, I can see that, but what about me? I ain't gotta Ball to go into."

Imposter looked at him flatly. "If you want one, I think I have an empty in my bag somewh-"

"No!" Froakie spouted. "I already said it, I'm not comfortable having a 'trainer' that's also a Pokémon. Even if it is you... What I mean is, I'm sleeping out here, and if I'm sleeping out here in the woods on the dirty ground, so're you."

Imposter opened its mouth to say something, when it felt a bit of water drop onto it.

The two were silenced as the water increased. "Oh," Froakie realized. "It's - raining."

He stayed quiet for a second, Imposter watching him closely. "Well... you see, the thing about Water-Types, heh, we..."

He spit it out. "We _really_ love the rain! Whatever, I'm going to stay out here and let nature's tears lull me to sleep. You can do whatever you want. 'Nighty!"

Imposter grinned. That was Froakie, all right. "Likewise," it said, and turned red.

* * *

So the days went on: trainers were battled and paths were forged, levels were grown and items were used. The Pokémon's combined efforts to guide themselves in a progressive direction took some time to realize success, but by the third day on the trail, they were seeing new places. They were going forward.

At this point, Imposter's legs were rightfully aching. It came upon a clearing in what appeared to be a site of ruins, where a nice Ranger offered to heal its friends. It gladly took this respite, handing them over and pulling out a juicy Sitrus Berry for itself.

It squinted from the sun ahead of it and took its Poké Balls back. A deep breath, and it was on its way again.

"Wait, what about me? I don't get to be healed? I'se been walking with you the whole time, not just hangin' out in those balls all day-"

Imposter tossed the annoyed Froakie an Oran Berry, which effectively shut him up. Team all ready to go, it entered the clearing.

"Imposter! Wait up a second!"

It knew that voice all too well.

It spun around. A person! That it knew! It was beginning to wonder if it would ever see one of those again. And not only was she someone it knew; she was Serena, one of its dearest friends.

"Hey, you made it this far. Nice, nice," she noted. "I've, uh, so I've had a lot of time to think about what happened in Geosenge..."

Her voice trailed sadly. "...And how upset I was at you for leaving me behind. Not being able to come back here made me so angry at you, which totally distracted me from who we were both supposed to be mad at. I mean, Lysandre tried to eliminate all Pokémon, and I know-"

She stuttered. "Knowing what I do now, I can see why you'd especially be opposed to that.

"But anyway, look; I've already challenged the Champion, and let me tell you, we got destroyed. A couple times. And here you are trying to get to the League so you could do the same; that says something really special about you, you know that? So my short string of losses has forced me to realize I've underestimated you a little."

She looked it straight in the eye. "So I've decided to give up my refusal to battle you. I know it's been a while, and a lot has changed, but we're still trainers."

She had been refusing to battle it? It did not even notice, but now that it thought it over, she was adamant about battling as much as she could while her arm was healing - yet she never asked it for one. Should it have felt bad about not realizing this? It decided the question was too hard to answer and no longer wanted to try.

Serena continued with a determined smile, raising her splinted fist. "And, there's something that I want to know. What is it like for someone like you... trying to be someone like me? All this time I thought I was dragging you along in the dust. But you've been battling with your friends like any human would, and that's pretty impressive, I gotta admit. So, Imposter, I'm challenging you to a battle. I want to see who you really are, in this match; Pokémon to Pokémon trainer!"

A battle? It was on.

Instinctively Imposter grabbed the Ball of the first Ditto in its party. Serena nodded, the sun reflecting off of her Key Stone, and sent out her Meowstic.

"Ditto," it insisted, mirroring her determined grin. It sent out Ditto and the battle officially started.

It went well from the very beginning - Imposter remembered to command Fake Out first, and Ditto followed through beautifully. Two identical Shadow Balls followed, but naturally, Ditto fainted first.

Imposter bit its tongue, then sent out the next one. Fake Out, Shadow Ball. Meowstic fainted, Ditto grew a level.

Imposter smiled.

"Okay, fine!" Serena shouted. "Go for it, Aurorus!"

The fossil Pokémon screamed a battle cry as it came out, but Imposter was not intimidated.

Ditto was faster, and got off a Psychic before Aurorus summoned Hail. Wulfric's strategy; Imposter resented that. It caught a look of regret in Serena's eyes. "Oh, you - I didn't realize it would hurt you, too - that wasn't fair. I'm sorry."

The Ditto tried to shrug it off, but it was still not immune to the damage. Aurorus just seemed caught in the middle. "Don't look at me," he defended, "I'm just doing what she says."

Imposter blinked. "Ditto, use Psychic."

Ditto did. Aurorus laughed. "If that's how it'll be," Serena observed, "...Then I guess I won't hold back either!

"Aurorus, Blizzard!"

Imposter put its hands up defensively, although it knew Ditto was the one being attacked. Ditto's stamina was in the red, and falling fast due to the hail.

It returned with a third and final Psychic. Auroras went down.

"...Don't know why I'm so surprised," Serena admitted, shrugging smugly. "But it's time we stop playing around. It's you, Absol!"

Ditto looked exhausted, about to fall over if it was just so much as nudged.

But it would have to be even more alert now, for Serena was thrusting her right hand into the air, the stone at its center glowing radiantly.

 _The opposing Absol's Absolite is reacting to Serena's Mega Splint!_

"Absol - Mega-Evolve!"

Imposter watched as the Pokémon did so, Ditto trembling underneath it. "You still got this, Ditto," Imposter whispered, keeping its eyes trained on the opponent.

"Thanks, but he is a Dark-Type. I don't think I can-"

"I was talking to myself." The two had barely a moment to breathe.

"Absol, Night Slash!"

"Quickly, Ditto, use Disarming Voice!"

Absol cringed slightly at the Fairy-Type attack, then finished off its opponent using Night Slash.

Imposter returned Ditto to its Ball. "You did a lot. Thank you.

"Now, go, other Ditto!"

Two Mega Absol took the field. Serena's moved first, using Slash. Imposter's imitated it, but was luckier: the hit was critical, and the Absol fainted.

Serena's mouth was agape. "Er... That's unfortunate, you got my Mega. Heh. Yeah... You're going to pay for that! Show 'em, Charizard!"

Ditto Slashed again, then Charizard Power-Up Punched. The already-weakened Ditto barely hung on, while Charizard was still awake and kicking. The hail did not help the situation, either.

Another critical hit with Slash. Now Charizard was feeling it. "Do it again," Serena commanded.

Imposter looked on in shame as Ditto fainted. Now it only had two left, discounting itself. It sent out the last one with its ability and hoped it would go first.

It did not, which terrified Imposter. Both had two Power-Up Punches worth of attack boots under their belt, and it expected the opponent to hit hard. A third of Ditto's health was shaved off by the Blaze-boosted Fire Fang.

Ditto returned with an Aerial Ace, knocking the Charizard down.

Serena counted her Pokémon - Imposter saw two left. "Well, Charizard's a Fire-Type. What other option do I have," she began, "...Then to send out Vaporeon? Go!"

Ditto bared its teeth, not afraid to show it was unafraid. Under Imposter's command, it Aerial Aced again.

Vaporeon's health was halved, but it remained calm. "Vaporeon, Surf."

It hit. Ditto fainted.

Imposter knew it was in trouble.

"That was good, Ditto. Return."

The hail stopped. One Poké Ball left. "Finish the job, Limber."

The last Ditto in its party appeared on the field, then blanched when it saw who it was up against.

"Wait, what? Imposter! We're battling _her!?_ You know how powerful her team is. I can't take her in my dreams."

It bent down to eye level with its friend. "Hey, quit it. Sure you can. She only has two left, anyway. Somehow..."

Limber turned white. "I have to take _two_ of her beasts?"

"Yeah, only two," Imposter answered genially. "You're almost ten levels above her Pokémon, anyway, and that much smarter." It invested time to pause, thinking of how to continue. "And I'm behind you. This battle can go differently."

Limber looked into the eyes that Imposter worked so hard to replicate. It payed off: "Okay. I'll try."

Imposter stood up. "Limber, use Transform."

Serena hummed as Limber prepared the move. "Surf again. Quickly!"

But Vaporeon was not quick enough - Imposter's words of encouragement reached Limber, and the battling Ditto had already Transformed by the time the Water-Type attack hit.

 _Limber's Water Absorb: It doesn't affect Limber..._

Imposter cheered. Limber sighed in relief.

"Aha, you're good!" Serena cooed. "I _am_ underestimating you! Now we've gotta really start it. Vaporeon, Quick Attack."

Limber took the move like it was nothing. "Aurora Beam."

The Vaporeon was just as defensive. This would be a long battle.

The Pokémon exchanged blows, each whittling the other down. Limber's last Quick Attack landed a critical hit, and Vaporeon looked close to fainting.

"Imposter... I don't know if this is going to happen," Limber confessed. "I'm running out of time, I can't hold this form for much longer."

"Oh, yes, you can," Imposter corrected, giving it a Hyper Potion. Serena's Vaporeon attacked again, without much success.

"Now, Limber, Ice Beam!"

Finally, the opponent fainted.

Serena called Vaporeon back. "Heh, you've gotten a lot better," she admitted. "I'm honestly really impressed. But Pokémon or no, I still have one partner you've never defeated.

"Gooo, _Chesnaught_!"

Once again, Imposter was captivated by the sparkling aura of her starter. The Grass-Type roared.

"You!"

Imposter could tell he was talking directly to it. Limber faced its trainer.

"Heh. So we're fighting the Ditto again? Serena, you're taking these League failures way too hard, if we're crawling back to this weakling," Chesnaught smugly insisted. "At least you finally showed yourself, Ditto."

Imposter had to recall Geosenge, thankful Chesnaught was away in his Ball at that time. "I didn't have a choice," it argued.

Chesnaught stood wide and tall, showing itself off. "I was still right about you. They didn't believe me, but I was right. You really are a joke."

Imposter's eyebrows lowered. "Hey, no one's laughing here 'xcept me!" Froakie called from the sidelines. "'Pasta, show this fool who's the better buffoon, will ya?"

"Stay out of this, Froakie," Chesnaught and Imposter agreed, the former snapping the demand.

Serena raised an eyebrow. "Is something the matter? Chesnaught, is big, bad Imposter saying mean things to you?" She winked at her opponent, who understood she knew it would never.

Chesnaught growled. "Well, if there's no problem, we better get on with it then," she decided. "You know what to do!"

The larger Pokémon did not hesitate. Imposter did not envy its friend, who took the supereffective Seed Bomb.

"Imposter - I can't-" Limber's legs shook. "Help me."

"Yeah, Ditto, help it," Chesnaught remarked. "I'll take you on myself anytime, anyplace! It'll be just like the Poké Ball factory."

"Imposter? You're not seriously thinking-?" Limber stuttered. "Are you?"

It hesitated, its voice shaky. "I-If you really needed me to, of course I'd want to step in - but Serena wouldn't knock me out if she knew it was me. That's not fair."

"Who cares about fairness when a Pokémon is a trainer? I'm doing the battling, I decide if I want to listen to her," Chesnaught corrected, pounding a fist into its other hand and Grass-Type spitting on the ground.

"Glacier Badge?" Imposter gulped.

"Void. I'm the one who earned her that badge!"

"That... isn't really how that works..."

"Of course that's-"

Limber pulled itself to its feet. "Imposter, I'm going to do it."

"...And who are you to decide what a Pokémon under a trainer's care should do-?"

"Here I go..."

 _Limber used Ice Beam!  
_ _A critical hit!  
_ _It's super effective!_

Chesnaught made a pained noise, holding the side where he was hit. It was clear he was finished.

"Whuh - I-I don't know what to say..."

No one could break that silence. Chesnaught's pain, Serena's loss, and Limber's victory silenced everyone until Chesnaught found some more of his voice.

"This shouldn't be happening... all of our training... and you..!"

His eyes glowed in anger. "You don't know what you've just done. We're not _supposed_ to lose. And not to the likes of you! Serena can't take another loss after the cruddy luck we've been having in the League. We were supposed to stay undefeated with _you_ , at least _._ This was supposed to save her morale. And you - you-!"

He stopped speaking, and to everyone's surprise, got to his feet.

" _I can't stand you!"_

Despite the battle wounds, his fist began to glow and he started charging right for Imposter. The shocked expression on Serena's face was evident for miles as she fumbled for his Ball.

The Ditto was frozen in place for a second, before Froakie's cry snapped it out of it.

"'Pasta!"

It met Chesnaught's eyes, narrowed and pained. Something in Imposter broke when it saw that look. With his warning, all of Froakie's words about standing up for itself rushed back to it.

Chesnaught's teeth were bared as he pulled back his fist.

Imposter was so clearly in danger that even it was aware of the impending attack. Serena's panicked demands to stop were drowned out in the heat of the moment.

There was no running from the large Fighting-Type, but that was not one of the Ditto's worries. Recalling all the hateful words Chesnaught said to it, Imposter drew back its own fist and drove it into his furry face.

 _Chesnaught fainted!_

Froakie and Limber gasped, for different reasons. Imposter's eyes were narrowed for the attack, but it widened them now. It released its fist in shock.

Chesnaught had been sent flying back, now limp on the ground. Before anything else could happen, he glowed red; Serena was finally calling him back.

"Wh-What..." she stuttered, "...was that?"

Imposter had exactly the same question.

Its legs wobbled, and it could not stop staring at the ground. The reality of its action slowly sank in. It had hit a Pokémon - not using a move, not while battling him itself - it had not thought about what it was doing, just acted. And now it was regretting it.

Serena asked again, more stern this time. "Imposter, _what_ just happened?"

Oh, no - she was surely mad at it again now. It looked at her in fear. It had to escape! Was there a Flying-Type nearby?

"Hey, no no, it's okay, calm down. Imposter?"

It met her eyes.

"Ssshhh. Just breathe, and show me what's the matter."

It took a deep, calming breath as she ordered, then another. It looked down, then to the side, muttering apologies.

"Did-Did my Chesnaught say something to you? He's usually so sweet... but it always kind of looked like you two didn't get along. Any reason why?"

Her voice was gentle, and Imposter was finally convinced she was not mad. It sighed, and gestured to itself, picking up a slightly purple boot to emphasize its point.

"Y-You're a Ditto," she interpreted. "And he doesn't like that?"

Serena was proving herself far superior to Shauna in reading its movements, which made everything easier. It nodded in affirmation.

"Hm... well, you have to admit it isn't exactly commonplace for a Pokémon to do what you're doing. I can kinda see how someone would be uncomfortable with that, sure, but going so far as attacking you for it - that's not like my Chesnaught at all. Then again, he never took losing well... And it doesn't help that we've been taken down by the Elite Four so many times; but that doesn't make what he tried to do right. I'll definitely have a long talk with him later. We can't have something like this holding us back at this point."

Imposter nodded slowly. "So I forgive you. I mean, you're a Pokémon, so you've probably been in a lot of battles yourself, huh? It was probably just an instinctual thing, what you did, to defend yourself. I'm just sorry I couldn't stop him before something really serious happened. No hard feelings about any of this. Okay? Okay."

Then her eyes and mouth closed, and she chuckled. "So on another note, I just lost to a Ditto, then," she admitted. "You really are something else."

She extended a sportsmanlike hand, and Imposter took it. "Ditto," it agreed, feeling the toughness of her grip and the leather dressing it.

"Thank you for the battle! I lost, but I think learned a lot about you. I'm still sort of in shock-" she held her head. "It is funny to think that you were a Pokémon this whole time, and before Geosenge, no one knew..."

"Chesnaught knew," Froakie interrupted, but he was ignored. Serena continued.

"But you and I do have a lot in common. I'm glad I got to meet someone as - interesting as you."

She discreetly made a fist. "Okay! Now we've each won at least one battle against each other. Now we can truly be rivals! Next time I see you, it'll be in the Champion's room. If you want to take the title, I'm gonna make sure you're battling me for it - and make it just like you did for the Mega Ring, eh?"

She looked around. "Anyway, I should be leaving to heal now. Good luck with your League challenge... but not too much!"

It smiled and she ran back.

"Hey, Imposter."

Limber's voice grabbed its trainer's attention. The still-Transformed Ditto smiled, satisfied. "I did it. We won."

Imposter bent down and wrapped its arms around it, water leaking from its eyes. "Yes, you did."

They stayed there for a second, interrupted by Froakie. "Hey, yes, look, this is all very touching, but can we talk about something?"

Limber sighed in relief. "Oh, sure. I really need to let go of this Transformation anyway."

It did so and evened out its breathing. Froakie went on.

"Imposter! Dude, I'm so proud of you!" He leapt up and threw his arms around its neck in a tiny hug. "You just socked _Chesnaught_ in the face, like a total baddie! Showed 'im what's what! He ain't gonna mess with us anymore, now, that's for certain!"

Imposter froze at the sudden praise. "Uh - I mean, I didn't-"

"Shush." Froakie jammed a finger against its lips. "I say you did the right thing. And hey, you won the battle. What more could you ask for?"

"Well, you have a point there."

"Yeah, I do." He hugged Imposter again, then hopped down. "That was awesome! And now that we've beaten Serena, we can take on anyone. What's the Champ's name again?"

"I think it was Diantha?"

"Well, Diantha, look out, 'cause you're about to get replaced by the best Ditto in the world, up top."

He was looking for a high-five, but Imposter did not agree and could not provide. Limber cleared its throat.

"Well, best Ditto from Kalos, I guess. Anyway, we're comin' for ya."

Imposter stood up. "I... wouldn't be so confident. She _is_ the Champion, after all, the strongest trainer in the region. Stronger than Serena, as we just learned."

Froakie waved it off. "Pssh, now's no time for rational thinking. We're on a roll! Let's keep going, see who else we can punch in the face. I mean beat in a battle. Either's good."

"Uh, Froakie, we uh, we took a really big hit in that battle," Limber noted. "We won, but not by much. I'm the only member still conscious, and admittedly, not by all that much."

"That's true," said Imposter. "We need to go heal too. Then we can take on what's left of Victory Road, okay?"

Froakie smirked. "If we must."

"I knew you'd understand." Imposter returned the smirk.

And so the Pokémon did. And three short days later, the Kalos Pokémon League appeared ahead of them.

They were ready.

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _The battle scene of this chapter was the first battle that I actually wrote as I played it; with some tweaks for Serena's team, of course. This was months ago, actually, so if the style feels different from the current one, that's why. (Although I altered the end of the battle from something with more emphasis on Limber's dynamic in favor of character development for Imposter. I think it's better this way.)_


	27. Chapter 27

**If you'd told me after the first Gym battle or so that I'd have to write a chapter with four consecutive battles and not much else in it, I would have hung my head in reluctance. But I think this came out pretty okay, for my standards. The battles themselves were written to be shorter than the other ones so far, but how else was I supposed to fit all four?**

* * *

They were not ready.

As the colossal grand palace that was the Kalos Pokémon League headquarters drew nearer, and the light fog there lifted, the travelling Pokémon began to get their first look at the splendor and the majesty of the Kalos elites. Even Imposter, the Pokémon responsible for the demise of Team Flare, found itself cowering at the prospect of facing the trainers residing here.

That was all it had to do. It had to face five trainers, with short rests in-between - long enough to heal the team and even strategize a bit. It had battled many more than five trainers in a row during its travels, so this should not be a problem; as much as it wanted to believe that, it knew it was kidding itself. There was no arguing it: this was going to be Imposter's most difficult series of battles yet.

When it turned its head, it had to blink a few times to confirm it was not hallucinating. There really was a Pokémon Center here! Exhausted as its legs were, it would run the final stretch to this haven of rest and ease.

It could have stayed in the Center forever, munching Sitrus Berries and downing Super Potions, but it knew in the back of its mind that it had a promise to keep. If not to itself, or to any of its other human friends, then to its trainer, Grace, who wanted to see her Ditto succeed. It would have to at least try, for her.

So it shakily maneuvered to the dressing room in the back, brought out its new clothes - somewhat dirty from its wearing them throughout the first half of Victory Road, before Froakie suggested preserving them in its bag for a more important time - and Transformed. It caught a look at itself in the mirror; it knew what those were, courtesy of Grace, but had not seen one in a long while. It studied itself, slightly mesmerized by the person it saw. It had done so much in this body, and now it was going to take it through the Pokemon League.

It took a deep breath. In fact, it looked fantastic; a fancy black leather jacket over its white shirt, topping the deep blue denim and gold lining of its jeans, made it look almost like someone ready to become a Champion.

It turned to Froakie, about to ask a question, when he intercepted.

"Oh, you look great. Don't worry about it; these guys have probably seen plenny of trainers with less style than you. Heck, they've already seen Pigtails, how much lower can you get?"

Imposter gave him a disconcerted look, causing him to take it back. "Ah, I was just kidding. She just ain't my style, is all. Too pink and girly. _Serena_ on the other hand, she's-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Imposter insisted. "Come on. We've got a few battles to have."

Froakie was quiet for a moment, then nodded.

It was windy when they stepped out of the Pokémon Center. Imposter briefly remembered that winds signified change in some cultures, and while this was just one spontaneous thought drowned out by a sea of many more relevant ones, it was enough to carry it to the entrance of the League, and, gulping from nervousness, through the gate.

* * *

High ceilings, long corridors, a couple of loitering Veterans, and a sacrosanct air made up the inside of the League. Imposter was unsure whether it was actually cold in the building or if its hair was just standing on end due to what was about to happen. It meandered through the hallway on the left until it reached another large door.

The gate automatically opened when Imposter stepped up to it, allowing it to walk through much easier. One foot after another. Even Froakie on its shoulder was breathing heavily.

This was the biggest chamber of all; and standing nearby was a person the Ditto thought it recognized for a second.

She turned around to face it, and the face clicked. Miss Lady, whom it toted around Lumiose that day. It had specifically tried to remember her, and it paid off.

The look she gave showed Imposter she remembered it, too. "So, you're the illustrious Imposter, are you?" she began. "Welcome at last to the Pokémon League."

Imposter's stomach dropped. Hearing someone say those words out loud had a much greater effect than all the times it had thought them in its mind, in an attempt at preparation. It blinked.

"I am Malva, the Fire-Type specialist, you must know. But I'm only one of four - the Elite Four - five counting our Champion. Not that that matters; you're never getting past the four of us. You'd need something truly impressive: you'd need your real strength, not just something you took from someone else. But you don't care much about that, do you? The 'hero' who destroyed big, bad Team Flare."

With that, she strutted away to another room.

"W-What?" Imposter was whispering. "What's... her deal?"

Froakie shrugged, silent.

It followed her with its eyes. When that failed to satisfy its curiosity, it followed her with its feet.

Stepping into the Blazing Chamber and onto the circular pad in its center, Imposter realized in terror that this was another elevator. Its stomach was weak enough without the thought of the impending battles it would face.

Yet the contents of its stomach stayed there for long enough that when it emerged into the room where Malva was waiting, they had settled down. Now it just had to step forward.

Pillars of fire erupted to either side of it, a ring of flames encircling the room. Imposter would have been impressed if not for the growing pit in its gut.

It cautiously moved ahead. Only one way out of here.

Malva laughed. "So you've chosen me first, have you? Or perhaps you only followed me because you're so clueless about what is happening that at the first sign of someone else to lead you, you give up whatever individuality your brain can muster to let them carry you to success? Well, that isn't going to happen here, bucko. If you want to be my opponent today, so be it. I was awaiting my revenge anyway."

 _You are challenged by Elite Four Malva!_

Imposter's Ditto and Malva's Pyroar exchanged Hyper Voices and Noble Roars until each side lost a battler, Imposter first.

Torkoal was next. Hyper Voice. Stone Edge. Critical hit. Next Ditto in. Imposter smirked. Torkoal just gave it some useful moves.

"Ditto, Earthquake!"

Torkoal did not stand a chance.

In next for Malva was the one Pokémon of hers Imposter had already seen: the obnoxious Flying-Type herself, Talonflame.

Ditto took the following Brave Bird attack with stupendous ease. Its heart racing with the fortune of Malva using a Torkoal, Imposter ordered a Stone Edge.

Talonflame screeched in pain, tumbling to the woman's feet. Next was Chandelure, already her last. Ditto was still in excellent health, and suddenly it seemed as though Malva was sweating.

"F-Fine, I only have one more. But you know, I'm not going to let you win. Shadow Ball!"

The attack took both Ditto by surprise, knocking out Ditto even in its defensive form. Imposter shook its head.

"A Ghost-Type, huh," it observed. "I happen to know that they can't really do much to Normal-Types..."

It reached back. "And I have a special Normal-Type right here."

It expected her to go for the stupid move, attacking Limber with another Ghost-Type attack. Instead she ordered a Confuse Ray.

When Limber accidentally hurt itself while trying to Transform, Imposter was the one smacking itself in the face.

"Alright, uh, try it again." It nearly whined.

But it was too late - Chandelure was already launching the Flamethrower that would take out its best friend.

Imposter sighed. This was embarrassing. Only one left.

"D-Ditto, Shadow Ball!"

"Chandelure, you know what to do."

The two charged their attacks and released the shadowy blobs simultaneously. Both attacked, but only the faster one would win the battle.

A furious Malva just sat there in frustration as Imposter walked away victoriously.

* * *

The Ironworks Chamber was right across the room from Malva's, so naturally, that was where Imposter wandered next.

Where she had columns of fire, the keeper of this room had giant swords. Each the size of two-story buildings, at least. Not wasting its time admiring them, Imposter had to step forwards.

The man walking up to it had a voice slightly reminiscent of Wulfric's; clad in a full suit of armor, he personally greeted his challenger.

"Well met, Pokémon," he declared. "Verily I am known throughout the land as Wikstrom of the Elite Four, the famed blade of hardened steel! And you are the one they call Imposter. A creature so iron-willed that you rejected such a force as fate, journeyed through a world meant not for your kind, and made it to my quarters. Let us both give our word that the contest between us gentlemen shall be fair and honorable. Ready?"

Imposter nodded, and his face flattened. He pounded his steel-plated chest.

"En garde!"

 _You are challenged by Elite Four Wikstrom!_

Ditto and Klefki were sent out first, both Tormented on the first turn. They each juggled the rest of their moves until Ditto, then Klefki, fell.

Probopass was next. This Ditto's Flash cannon did much less damage than Imposter expected, but then, so did the opponent's Earth Power. One more, however, and Ditto was down.

Next Ditto in. Earth Power. Probopass down. Aegislash in. Imposter was confident Ditto would go first and knock him out with Earth Power, but apparently not. Its plan was foiled when Aegislash outsped and took out Ditto with Sacred Sword.

Imposter bit its tongue. Fine. But it would not take a chance with Limber this time - not when there was a Fighting-Type move in play.

This was alarming. Ghost-Types almost always had moves that were supereffective on themselves, so Imposter had to tread carefully.

The battlers danced around in Stance Changes until Imposter saw the opening - there!

 _Ditto used Shadow Claw!  
_ _It's super Effective!  
_ _The opposing Aegislash fainted!_

Both Ditto breathed a sigh of relief. That was a particularly stressful moment. Next in line was the foe's final Pokemon: Scizor.

Having learned to play it safe in times of uncertainty, Imposter ordered a King's Shield - Ditto did not take damage from the following Night Slash, but the fact that Scizor knew it worried both Ditto greatly.

But they could not keep protecting forever: when the Night Slash did hit, the Attack drop from King's Shield made it a lot less troublesome than Imposter thought.

So it rotated between healing items and King's Shields until Ditto ran out of Power Points for the move, at which point Scizor was doing so little damage that they were free to attack him without relenting.

It looked like it was going well... until Scizor landed a critical hit.

All of the Attack drops were negated in that second. Ditto was done for.

Now that the Fighting-Type move was eliminated, however, Imposter felt much safer about sending Limber in. It Transformed first, to both Ditto's relief. Scizor's attacks did almost nothing to it.

Imposter and its friend were breathing in sync. "Okay, X-Scissor, Limber!"

Scizor was significantly weakened, and his Night Slash was nothing the Ditto had to worry about.

The battlers traded powerless moves until finally, at long last, Scizor gave it up.

Wikstrom called him back. He applauded, the metal encasing his hands causing the loud noise to echo around the chamber.

"What a marvelous battle!" he praised. "I consider myself honored to have met your challenge. Even I, sturdy as the mettle in my heart, am undone by your might. Good sir, you have been searching for equality in your journey with the people in this world; and not only have you found it with the whole of humanity, you have found it with us, the best in Kalos. With the help of thine allies, despite their shortcomings, you have triumphed. I aspire to be like you in that regard. Go; show the other two what you have shown me, and venture forth to the Champion's room!"

And so, beaming more happily than it had in a long time, Imposter did.

* * *

There were two rooms left; one next door, and one across from that one. It took the former into the Dragonmark Chamber.

Billowing smoke drifted into the ceiling from the decorations at Imposter's sides. Slightly more confident now by Wikstrom's speech, Imposter stepped up.

The human greeting it this time appeared to be older than the last two, and much more cordial.

"Oh, welcome, do come in," she insisted. "My word, you must have gotten quite strong in order to come here. What wonderful news, indeed! I was waiting to finally meet you in this place."

Imposter smiled gently, pleasantly surprised at her kindness and lack of intensity. It was a good change of pace for today.

But its face fell when she revealed the real reason she was so welcoming.

"Facing opponents like you and your team will make my Pokémon grow like weeds!"

 _You are challenged by Elite Four Drasna!_

Imposter had never seen a Dragalge prior to the one she sent out - it would have remembered that day for sure. It reviewed the available moves. Dragon Pulse; it knew that was a good one. What better way to start the battle?

Fortunately, Ditto went first; unfortunately, it was not enough to take Dragalge down. They traded the move back and forth until, for the first time today, the opponent fainted first.

Drasna sent in Altaria. Dragon Pulse. Ditto fainted. Imposter sent another. Fainted to a Dragon Pulse. Another. It used Sing. Altaria fell asleep, and right when Imposter thought it had a chance to gain an advantage, Drasna did something unexpected.

She pulled out a Poké Ball and called Altaria back. Her Noivern took the coming attack decently, then knocked Ditto out of the air.

Imposter was officially losing. All it could do was send in another and hope it went first.

It did not. But that did not cost Imposter the fight.

Instead of shooting another Dragon Pulse, Noivern went for a Super Fang. Ditto was put in a tough position, but was able to knock out the opponent without fainting.

Altaria came back out next; she had woken up due to the ability Natural Cure, and was thus still a threat.

Until Ditto Dragon Pulsed her to the ground. The battle seemed to be turning around now. One left; a Druddigon.

Heart racing even more now, Imposter saw it had no choice. Dragon Pulse had been prevalent in this battle so far, and if this one did not defeat the foe, it was almost surely done for.

It could not watch. It ordered the move between trembling hands.

When its fingers parted, it slowly grinned.

 _A critical hit!  
_ _It's super effective!  
_ _The opposing Druddigon fainted!_

Imposter hung its head. It always tended to have close battles, but this one involved all Dragon-Types. They never failed to send other Pokémon on edge, no matter who they were.

But it was over now. Drasna was congratulating it.

"Oh my, what a quick battle. You're too much! I love all that you're putting into this thing of yours, being a trainer despite being a Pokémon. It is so charming indeed. Now, toodle-oo! You have one more of us left before the Champion, yes?"

That was right! It ran back to the elevator in a jittery mess, falling flat on its face. But it did not care. It was almost there.

Just one more.

* * *

Directly across the hall was the Flood Chamber, the site of Imposter's last hurdle before meeting the strongest trainer in the region. It breathed deeply; despite the humidity, this room smelled nice.

Twin waterfalls, hanging from chains on the ceiling, appeared next to the Ditto. The last member of the Elite Four was standing not far away.

Imposter stepped forward one last time.

The man was not facing it when it came, instead turned towards the wall, deep in thought. He shook his head, then twisted to meet his challenger.

"Hey, you! Young man - er, Ditto. Tell me something; I need a Pokémon's opinion on this. Do you consider battles to be a form of art?"

Art? That sounded neat. And battles were neat, so of course Imposter's answer was yes. It nodded with a smile.

The man paused, then continued. "I see.

"I will tell you, in addition to being an Elite Four member, I - Siebold - am a chef on the side. And like cooking, Pokémon battles have no end product that does not disappear with its completion. Whether we win or lose, we can never cherish a battle as much as we did whilst we were engaged in it. That is what makes it art; to live for experiences that are only temporary is a beautiful sacrifice. I imagine it is the same for you, no? When you become a human, or a different Pokémon, you can't stay that way forever. For that, I praise you. You understand what it means to live moment to moment. Think of that the next time you shapeshift.

"Anyway, thank you for that insight. Without further ado, let us clash in battle!"

 _You are challenged by Elite Four Siebold!_

From the start, things looked bleak for Imposter - quickly losing a Ditto to Siebold's Clawitzer, and only defeating him successfully with the next one's health in the red. The opponent sent in Gyarados next: a terrifying Pokémon Imposter had not seen since Lysandre's red Mega-Evolved one. While flashing back to that moment, it failed to notice the Pokémon taking out its second Ditto.

It breathed. Fine. It sent a third. It could do this.

Gyarados performed a Dragon Dance. Imposter was shaken to the core just watching it. "Ditto... Ice Fang."

Ditto did, and Imposter's eyebrows shot up when it realized what had happened.

 _The opposing Gyarados was frozen solid!_

Frozen solid... Gyarados could not attack now. It was safe.

Imposter fell to its knees, crying in ecstasy. This was just the break it needed to win.

"Ditto! Dragon Dance, and keep going until he thaws out! Just keep going!"

Five.

That was the number of times Ditto was able to consecutively use Dragon Dance.

Imposter forced itself to stand again, knees wobbly, to command its next attack. Poor Gyarados was still stuck in the air, completely plated in ice. Imposter certainly did not pity him.

"Okay," it breathed, its voice wavering. It would admit that even it was afraid of its own friend now. "Dit-Ditto, us-s-s-s-se - Waterf-fall!"

The cataclysmic beast that its friend had turned into did as commanded. Gyarados fell to the ground with an ear-shattering thud, helpless.

 _It's a critical hit!_

Siebold, naturally, was turning red in a mix of shock, disbelief, and anger. "What a total nightmare! I am an Elite Four member! Nobody is supposed to be this lucky!"

Oh, but Imposter was, it mentally returned as it watched Siebold send his Barbaracle out to certain doom.

"Uhh, Barbaracle, so... I'm really sorry for this," Imposter apologised, genuine guilt in its face.

Barbaracle looked up in wonder. "...For what?"

"Well..."

 _Ditto used Earthquake!  
_ _It's super effective!  
_ _The opposing Barbaracle fainted!_

Imposter exhaled. It was almost over, almost time to call Ditto back, and then everyone would be safe.

Starmie was the next victim. Miraculously, it hung on by just a smidgen of health after the Waterfall; however, its Psychic was nowhere near powerful enough to quell the mighty Ditto.

Another Waterfall, and it too met its demise.

Siebold called his Pokémon back, and just as quickly, Imposter let Ditto return. "That..." its opponent began, "...That feeling, I will be remembering for some time..."

Imposter looked down to where the man was grovelling on his knees. "You have done something indescribable in that battle, and proved that there is something permanent about battles that play out so serendipitously. I doubt I will ever forget what happened today, and I know my Pokémon never will."

Imposter could not decide whether or not he was crying. "The way you battle... Our Champion is in trouble, I fear."

* * *

Imposter stepped out of the Flood chamber in a daze. How was it supposed to react to such an inexplicable break? It shook its head; what mattered was that it won. It knew Siebold's Pokemon were going to be okay.

Froakie was beaming, too, of course. "Man, you're on fire today! What were ya even worried about? Those guys were a cakewalk, weren't they?"

He was laughing, so Imposter felt bad about denying his excitement. "Actually, every battle was super close except that one. Were you... paying attention?"

"Well, 'course I was," he responded. "But look at all that what just happened. You beat all of them in one go! Never even lost once! And these are the best of the best. These guys were giving _Serena_ a hard time, and you just plowed right through."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Imposter acquiesced. "It's just that... she said it was the Champion, Diantha, that beat her so many times. You hear how much everyone is talking about her? Like she's some kind of legend."

Froakie rolled over, he was laughing so hard. "Are ya kiddin'? Of course they're gonna talk up the _Champion._ Why wouldn't they? They wanna scare you. No, no, you wanna talk about legends-" he pointed right at Imposter. "- _You were one!_ Can Diantha go around sayin' she was Xerneas at some point? I don' think so. And look where we are. In _the heart of the Pokémon League!_ You beat the Elite Four! Using Ditto! And news flash, you _are_ a Ditto! Could anyone else have done that? I honestly didn't think you would make it past the third town or so, when we started. But here we are."

Imposter looked down, blushing slightly. "I-"

"Listen, I can understand why you're nervous. Totally totally. But there's only one way out of here, and that's by going in there and battling the Champion. So no matter how you feel about it, you've gotta do it, so I'd like you to feel good about it."

"Huh." Imposter wiped its face. "I needed that, buddy. But y'know, you're giving me a lot of credit. I'd be totally lost without you keeping me on track. You saved my hide a few times."

"Eh." Froakie smirked. "You saved mine more. But who's counting?"

"Oh, come here!"

It bent down and scooped up the small Water-Type, squeezing him hard. The two really had had some great moments together, all leading up to the battle that was about to take place.

He was squeezing back, of course. While most would complain that super-tight hugs cut off their oxygen or crushed their ribs, it was just like Froakie to instead compete for who could squeeze harder.

They released simultaneously, Froakie swinging around its neck to perch comfortably on its shoulder. "Alright," he started, "You ready to go whoop some butt?"

Imposter rolled its eyes. "I'd phrase it differently, but oh, sure. I could go for that."

The largest door in the building slid into the ground, and from the next room, a blinding light poured in.

"The Champion's in there," Froakie said. The two exchanged looks. Imposter whispered.

"Let's go."

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _This chapter marks the point at which Imposter here became more competent than me. I actually lost a few of these battles while playing, where I could have won if Ditto outsped or a critical hit was involved. The only other time I ever lost to a Kalos Elite Four member was when I accidentally let Siebold's Gyarados set up Dragon Dance, while experimenting with Aegislash shenanigans. In... Spanish._

* * *

 **And speaking of Gyarados, the whole freeze hax thing really is what happened. I knew I was pushing it after two or three D-Dances, then figured I might as well ride this out as long as I could, and he just never thawed. That Waterfall was really a critical hit, too, to top it all off. Making Siebold a (halfway) OOC dramatic crybaby about the loss came directly from my own disbelief of the situation. This is why I made Imposter lucky, people!**

 **And speaking of Aegislash, can anyone explain this to me? In the Wikstrom battle, when Ditto turned into him it didn't actually do Stance Change things. It stayed in Attack form the whole time, even though I thought Ditto copied Pokémon's abilities too?**

 **In any case, we're getting closer to the end now. The next chapter includes one of my favorite reveals of the story, one I've been looking forward to since the very first chapter!**


	28. Chapter 28

_**Heeerre iiit iiiiissss**_

 **The moment you've all been waiting for! The Champion battle! Whoooo's it gonna be? If you're surprised, then I'll count this story as a success!**

* * *

Imposter's breathing was steady as the elevator carried it into the Identity Chamber.

The air was tense and silent, save for the Ditto's footsteps. The walls were painted a deep silver, foreboding yet beautiful. The room itself was shaped like a circle, a stained glass pattern decorating most of the floor. Transparent navy blue curtains fell from the ceiling, reaching all the way to the raised section of floor surrounding the center.

Imposter tilted its cap up, heart thumping. Back turned to it and Froakie, the Champion was standing mere yards away.

Imposter squinted. It may have just been the light in the room, but the person in question... did not look like Diantha.

A raspy sigh escaped him; he did not sound like Diantha either. "Honestly, _again?_ " he asked, an air of annoyance in his voice. "You really have to give this up, Ser-"

He turned around from his left to face the challenger, and both trainers' hearts stopped.

The Champion's face scrunched into disgust. " _What."_

Imposter froze, and it seemed Froakie was in shock too. The trainer standing in front of them was none other than the very boy Imposter had been impersonating the entire time.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Calem snapped. "Is this some kind of joke?"

He looked about. "This isn't the place for you," he insisted. "This place is for trainers only. How'd you even get the door to open?"

No, no; he was misunderstanding. Imposter was a trainer. It clutched Limber's Ultra Ball tight in its left hand. It wanted to explain, but no words would be understood.

Calem's eyes narrowed. "Is that a Poké Ball? What are you doing with..." He trailed off. "No... no, no, please tell me Mom didn't really-"

But there Imposter was, Ball in hand. "...Wow. She really did."

He shook his head, arms folded. "I can't believe this. Have you been going around Kalos like _that_ this whole time?"

Like what? It was almost an exact copy of him, bar the clothing, and that was only a recent change.

"I mean, if you're going to do all this assuming the character of _me,_ at least try to get the look correct. You've got my hair all wrong! And I'm taller than that! You look - sixteen or something, you silly Pokémon."

Imposter shrunk a bit. Now that it had the chance to study him, he was right; his hair was now in a medium perm, and he stood at least a few inches taller than it. And, like Imposter, he had changed his outfit: his old blue and white zipped jacket was replaced by a navy blue and orange one, his jeans traded for vinyl black slacks. Gone were the sunglasses perched upon his old red outdoors cap, where instead a naked black one topped his head.

Froakie spoke up. "So, uh - you mind telling me how you two know each other? Imposter, have you been Transforming into him this whole time?"

Imposter nodded slowly, then swallowed. "He's Grace's son," it said. "The picture on my Trainer Card is of him."

"Grace has a son!?" Froakie whisper-yelled. "And he's the Champion?"

Imposter's hand was covering its mouth in shock. "We knew he was on a journey, but I never knew he'd made it this far... That explains why he's never home..."

"So what," Calem went on. "What are you doing here? You want to battle me? Hah, who am I kidding, that's ridiculous! This is all a joke, right?"

Imposter inhaled, looking him in the eyes, fists clenched. Yes, a battle was what it came here for. That was the only way out.

"Oh, looks like you're serious," Calem realized. He sighed again. "Well, I'm a fair man. You want to duel? Once you get through my Elite Four, let's have a match. You and me."

His face lifted when a ringing started coming from his back pocket. "Uh, excuse me, have to take this..." he said, taking out his Holo Caster and turning around for privacy. "Yes? Siebold! How are ya?—Awful, what do you mean by that?—Oh, I'm sure you weren't _that_ badly destroyed.—Oh yeah, by who?—Well, I hope it was a challenger, who else is allowed in here?—Coming for me next. Hah. Well, tell them to wait up, I'm dealing with something right now. Was it that girl again?"

Calem straightened at whatever Siebold said next. Imposter and Froakie exchanged glances.

"What do you mean, the Ditto trainer? No one actually battles with them except my mom.—You must be kidding me. In that case, it's standing right here, you know.—Siebold, get a grip! I can see I'm in no danger here. We'll talk about this later.—Yes, goodbye."

Calem turned around, shoved his Holo Caster into his pocket, and rolled his eyes. Moisture, presumably perspiration, caused his face to glisten just barely in the multi-colored light streaming into the room. "Where was I? Oh, yeah. So not only have you already defeated the Elite Four, but you gave them a run for their money, eh?"

He smirked. "Alright, fine. Obviously you've worked pretty hard to get here, and I'd be a coward not to take a challenge. But just so you know, I've also trained super hard to get to where I am. It took three years, but I finally beat my old rival and became Champion of Kalos, just like I always wanted. Now challengers are pouring in every day to try to take the title from me, and I've beaten all of them so far. No doubt you'll be one of the easier ones, huh?"

Imposter's eyes narrowed. He would learn otherwise, or at least, the Ditto would try its hardest.

"Alright, guess we're doing it, then, and Ditto?"

Imposter looked up.

"Don't you _dare_ go easy on me!"

Calem flashed a Poké Ball between his fingers, grinning like he already knew just how he was going to win.

 _You are challenged by Champion Calem!_

Imposter was smiling too.

The trainers sent their Pokémon. Calem led with a Meowstic, while Imposter sent in its first Ditto. The final battle started.

"My word," Calem spat. "Using your own kind to fight your battles - let me guess, Mom gave you the Pokémon, too?"

Imposter nodded with steely eyes. Ditto was finished Transforming before Calem even had a chance to give an order.

Imposter knew from its battles with Serena that when dealing with Meowstic, it needed to use Fake Out first, or it would not work. But this Meowstic was different: while hers was sleeker and mainly white, this one was scruffy and dominantly blue. Distracted by the difference in body, Imposter failed to react before Calem, and Meowstic moved first.

He sprinted up to Ditto, and in a split second, shoved his paws forward in the Normal-Type attack.

Ditto flinched, but quickly got back into it. As if reading Imposter's mind, it unfurled its ears. Gathering spectral energy in front of it, all it needed was the order from its trainer to attack.

"Shadow Ball, Ditto."

Calem's face lifted in shock when his first Pokémon flew back, easily defeated by the supereffective move. "Hey, y-you were supposed to go first. Meowstic, what's going on with you today?"

Meowstic's unfocused eyes opened briefly, before he closed them again and let his head loll to the side.

Calem 'tsk'-ed. "Okay, I can see it's serious. Return."

He took the Poké Ball out, called Meowstic back, and stole a glance at his challenger.

"That was a fluke, you know," he insisted. "If Meowstic had moved faster, we could have wiped you out easily."

Imposter knew it all too well, but it also knew that the chances of a Transformed Ditto moving faster than its subject were an even one in two, barring influences from items or stat changes. Those were good enough odds for it.

Calem reached back, then chucked the Ball of his next partner halfway across the battlefield. "Hey, Ditto," he taunted. "Remember this?"

The Pokémon that emerged from the Ball was one Imposter recognized quickly as the one Shauna had started her journey with - Delphox. In the back of its mind it remembered already knowing of Fennekin when she chose her, due to having met Calem's.

Whom it would have to defeat shortly.

"That's right: my starter! This Delphox was the first Pokémon other than Ditto to probably even step foot in my house. He was the one who taught me all there was to battling with your _own_ moves, your own style. Neither of us need anyone else's power to make us strong!"

Imposter smirked. "If that was an insult," it noted offhandedly, "it went right over my head."

Calem shook his head. "Whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it," he decided. "I have to smack you down quick before my other challengers arrive. Delphox? You know what to do."

The Fire-Type - significantly larger than Shauna's, Imposter noted - withdrew a burning stick and waved it about like a wand. In front of him, energy of the same essence as the Shadow Ball Ditto was preparing congealed into a small orb of ghostly power.

Imposter was expecting to have to time its order precisely again, as it had with Malva's Chandelure and Wulfric's Beartic. Yet Calem took a different approach, letting Delphox fire off the move as soon as it was ready.

Imposter's eyes widened, its unpreparedness for the attack showing. Froakie winced a little as the Shadow Ball came hurtling towards Imposter's battler.

Calem's Delphox was too strong for the Ditto, and it was thrown back so far Imposter likely could have caught it, if it was coordinated enough. It grimaced and called the Pokémon back. Number two, in.

Ditto was almost done Transforming into Delphox when Calem smirked a bit, then smugly raised a Ball. Wordlessly, he called his Delphox back.

Imposter and the Ditto, the latter still finishing off the change in form, watched in curious horror as the Champion sent in something else.

The Pokémon in question was one Imposter had recently discovered when spectating Shauna's Gym battle with Grant: he was a Tyrantrum, the evolved form of Tyrunt. Again, this one seemed larger than the Gym Leader's.

Calem laughed. "Hah. Weren't expecting that, were you? Now you have to figure out what to do using Delphox against this guy. Sure, you could switch and make it Tyrantrum-on-Tyrantrum, if you think you can take the hit. Either way, you aren't in a great spot, eh?"

A bead of perspiration rolled down Imposter's forehead, sticking to its hair. "D-Ditto, if you can find an opening..."

Calem's chest heaved nonchalantly. "Head Smash, Tyrantrum."

The colossal Dragon-Type bent down, skull almost visibly thickening. He began charging for Ditto.

"Go-Go now!" Imposter commanded. "Grass Knot!"

The rampaging Tyrantrum was moving too fast to stop. This was Ditto's chance: when he got close enough, it ducked swiftly and slid to his feet, shooting vines from beneath its wrists and grabbing hold, pulling them taut.

Tyrantrum was just feet away from Imposter when he crashed into the ground. With his momentum and Ditto's acquired Special Attack, there was no getting up again for him.

Calem was in shock. "Buh - guh - f-fine! I should have known he wouldn't be fast enough. And, wait, I have you in the back here. Silly me, forgetting all about you... I'm usually better than that..."

He shrugged and sent in a Pokémon he addressed as Pangoro. "That's right!" he declared, "This one's a lot better suited for the likes of my Delphox. Ready? Crunch it up."

The multicolored light from the stained-glass windows glinted off the Dark-Type's shades - Black Glasses, Imposter realized upon closer inspection. It was not eager to take a supereffective Crunch from this foe, and it guessed Ditto felt the same way.

"Well, don't just stand there; Fire Blast him!" it shouted in a rush. Ditto found its own burning wand-stick, brandished it expertly in a familiar pattern, and sent the attack Pangoro's way.

The opponent looked held off by the hit, but not destroyed. Imposter's stomach lurched when, clutching his burnt pelt in discomfort, Pangoro brought himself to his feet and clamped his jaws around Ditto's arm.

It writhed in shock, attempting to fling him off, with no luck. Finally, Ditto stopped moving, its eyes closed, and it dropped down in defeat.

Calem's eyes widened with a proudly surprised air about them. "Even with the burn, huh?" he observed. "Nice! Wasn't really expecting it, but hey, maybe I should have been. Good job, buddy."

Pangoro's heavy breathing made it seem like he could care less what Calem had to say, but apparently his trainer knew better. Calem nodded, clearly very into the battle now. "Yep, you're good, just keep breathing."

Imposter held the next Poké Ball in its hands. It was beginning to see Calem's strategy. It would have to adapt to it in order to win - but if not adapting, what were Ditto even for?

It threw in the next one, who Transformed on the spot. "Now, Ditto, Hammer Arm," it instructed the moment it noticed its friend had working ears.

It began sprinting towards Calem's Pangoro, who stood in wait for a second too long - if Calem had called an attack any sooner, it would have been Ditto knocked out first.

Calem called Pangoro back and gritted his teeth. "Yeah, I can handle this. Sure sure," he decided, arms crossed. "We both have three left. It's still my game."

He formed a determined fist, then reached into his pocket and sent in his fourth Pokémon.

Imposter recognized the beautiful green fur immediately. Calem was using a Gogoat. For some reason, the Ditto thought it should feel proud.

Both trainers knew neither Pokémon was fast, but one still had to be faster; in the end, it was Calem's that moved first.

"Aerial Ace, Gogoat!" he instructed, and Imposter attempted to defend its own battler.

"Get out of the way. Watch for his horns!" it called, but there was no dodging an expert's Aerial Ace. However, despite being supereffective, the move hardly phased Ditto. "Great! Now, Hammer Arm."

Calem's face seemed to fall as he realized the battle was not yet won. Ditto, still in close range to its opponent, drew a fist up and brought it down hard on the foe. "Gogoat, y'okay? You got some energy left?"

Gogoat shook himself as if to get water out of his fur. "Plenty," he said, his voice deeper than Imposter expected.

"Okay, good. Leech 'im."

Leech? Imposter looked on in equal parts fascination and horror as vines from Gogoat's pelt reached around Ditto and squeezed, visibly sucking bits of life force from it.

Imposter tensed. It was not looking forward to losing yet.

"Ditto, H-Hammer Arm again. Try your best..."

Despite being held back by the Leech Seed, Ditto wriggled out enough to land another blow to the opponent. Slowly the vines started retracting, and Imposter realized Gogoat was down.

Calem looked on in concern. "Hey, hey, no need to get so rough," he hurriedly said. "It's fine. I'm going to stop messing around and deal with you quickly, now, so don't do anything crazy."

Was that - worry in the Champion's voice? He only had a couple of Pokémon left to fight with, but then, so did Imposter. They were almost evenly-matched, but he seemed more distraught than the Ditto felt. It decided to take this as a good sign and keep on battling.

Calem bit his tongue and sighed. "Okay, I know you're really supposed to save this for the end and all," he started, fingering a Ball, "but I'm the Champion here, and I make the rules. This is what it makes sense to do, so here we go!" He whirled the Ball onto the field. "Go on, Blastoise! I know you can do it!"

Out of the Poké Ball came a creature that was large and clearly defensive, but otherwise not intimidating for a Pokémon. That was, not until Calem raised his left arm into the air.

Only at that point did Imposter notice the Mega Ring adorning his wrist.

It and Ditto were now the ones watching in fear as the opponent underwent the same form change that made trainers like Serena and Lysandre so powerful. This Mega Blastoise was the most synchronized with his trainer out of all the Mega Pokémon it had battled.

It swallowed.

"D-Ditto, if you can... One more Hammer Arm, for me?"

But Imposter should have known better than to ask so nicely and forgo the urgency the situation required. Calem smirked as he gave the next order, as if knowing he had nothing to fear.

"Aura Sphere."

From the large cannon on Blastoise's back a ball of light formed and was forcefully released. Poor Ditto was unconscious even before the move threw it against the back wall.

Tears welled up in Imposter's eyes. Not only had it just watched its friend take the supereffective move in such close range, but it was now much less likely to win. Two Ditto left.

They were neck-and-neck, but Imposter felt awful about its chances now that it had to defeat this mighty Mega. But losing now would be so terrible - it would have to start over from the beginning, facing all the Elite Four members again. Even it did not feel lucky enough to pull off four more consecutive victories.

It was frozen in place; it knew that it had to call Ditto back and send forth a new one, but it had to think first. It needed motivation. What was it fighting for? In the back of its mind it knew it was only doing this because someone else said it might be a good idea. But it had something to prove, too. Lysandre, Chesnaught, Zoroark, and now Calem himself had each shown disgust for its dreams and actions, treating it like Trubbish for wanting to be a human. That was it: it would have to prove them all wrong, that Pokémon could be trainers too, if they so choose. That was what Imposter was fighting for.

If not that, then just to save itself from dealing with Froakie's teasing if it lost.

With its next throw, two Mega Blastoise were now ready to throw the other down. Imposter did not even blink. "Ditto, use Aura Sphere."

"Blastoise, Dark Pulse!"

Two balls of energy pummeled through the air towards each other, each flying en route to the Pokémon across from that which launched it. They crashed in the air, slightly blowing the trainers' clothes back.

It was the Aura Sphere that burst through the Dark Pulse, hurtling into Blastoise with the force of a Rhydon. Calem's Pokémon stepped back. He was recovering very well, much to Imposter's dismay.

Calem smirked. "Is that all you got?" he taunted. "Funny, here I was being worried when all I had to do was send out this guy."

The Dark Pulse coming Ditto's way was almost completely out of the blue, and avoiding it was impossible. Ditto survived well, although it faltered a bit.

"Okay, just breathe," Imposter chanted. "We still have this. Ditto, Dragon Pulse."

Of course, Calem thought the same. Ditto was knocked out first.

Imposter hung its head. Fine; it still had Limber left. There was still hope.

"You're in charge, Limber! Transform!"

Limber, whom Imposter felt rocking in excitement within its Ultra Ball the whole time, took in the situation. Champion battle. This was its time to shine.

 _Limber turned back toward Imposter and nodded in understanding!_

With a toothy grin, Imposter watched as it rapidly set to work. Calem looked out of it.

"Waitasecond, does - that one not have the Imposter ability? What the heck?"

Imposter shrugged. He should know his mother trained all sorts of different Ditto.

"So you're going to try finishing me off... with one Limber Ditto?"

Imposter nodded. "Yes," it insisted, not to the opponent but to its friend. It could use all the confidence it could get.

Calem giggled a little. "F-Fine by me," he chuckled. "Boy, what a silly Pokémon you are, you know that? Are you sure all this isn't still a joke? Just... give it a Water Pulse, Blastoise."

What Calem was not counting on was that by the time his Pokémon's attack reached his challenger's final Ditto, the Normal-Type had already fully Transformed.

 _It's not very effective..._

"What?" Calem wondered aloud, "What was that? A Ditto, faster than my Blastoise? It's not holding an item or anything - how did that happen?"

Imposter did not feel like trying to answer this question. Instead it felt like commanding one of the coolest-looking moves it had ever seen.

"Limber! Aura Sphere!"

Mega Blastoise knelt in defeat at the hit. He stumbled to the stained glass ground.

Calem stood in shock. "No, no, this can't be happening," he panicked. "You're getting much, much too close for comfort there, Ditto, and I don't like it anymore!

"Now, Blastoise, come back, come on back..." His sweat was visible at this point. His words were mostly muffled by the thumping in Imposter's chest.

Calem sighed. "One more, huh? Go, Delphox."

When the Fire-Type landed, Calem's face twisted into a grin. "Hey now, listen," he started. "I know it looks like you've got a pretty good advantage over me, Type-wise. But I'm the Champion of Kalos!"

His arms were spread wide, showing off his size and stature. "And I'm ready for anything! The bond between Delphox and I is stronger than any Pokémon move... but this one will be getting pretty close to it."

He crossed his arms. "Delphox. Grass Knot!"

Imposter's gut dropped.

Limber's face distorted in fear.

Delphox sneered victoriously as it rushed in, vines already emerging from his wrists.

"Limber," Imposter whispered. "Try to do what you can, but even if we lose here... You know how strong you are."

Delphox slid to Limber's feet, vines shooting forwards with stunning velocity.

"Stronger than them. I know it," Imposter added meekly, pulling down the brim of its cap. As optimistic as it was being outwardly for Limber's sake, it knew that it could not remain standing after this final hit.

 _Thud._

That was it.

Limber had hit the ground, and Delphox was standing nearby, snarking it up. Tears returned to Imposter's closed eyes. The defeat itself was not as disappointing as the confidence Limber must have just lost, after it had only gained it back so recently.

Imposter ran its fingers along Limber's Ball. It slowly brought the contraption up, ready to call it back, when it head its voice again.

"No... No, I'm not going to be the reason you lose this..."

Imposter looked up in confusion and surprise, stunned by Limber's words. It was going to keep trying? But there was no way the move had not knocked it out...

 _Limber toughed it out to show its best side to Imposter!_

Calem's face was incredulous. "Survived with one HP!?" he observed, "That's total garbage! How is that fair?"

Delphox just stopped his snickering and began walking backwards cautiously.

Limber ignored them. "We have one shot at this," it voiced in nearly-silent mussitation. "What move? You're the trainer, Imposter: you tell me."

Imposter stuttered, its face red. "Th-That's right! I am the trainer!" It threw its head back, relieved. "I _am_ the trainer! Au-"

It stopped itself. As much as it wanted to defeat the Champion using a move like Aura Sphere, a thought tickled the back of its mind. Delphox was a Psychic-Type. He would resist Aura Sphere.

But he was also a Fire-Type; he would not appreciate a Water Pulse.

That was right! Imposter always considered itself bad with Type matchups, but in this situation, it seemed its memory pulled through.

"Okay, Limber! _Water Pulse!_ "

The battling Ditto bit hard, then launched many gallons of water forward from its three huge cannons.

The room was frozen for a moment.

...

 _Delphox fainted!_

Imposter's eyes doubled in size.

It threw its arms up. "Whooo! Limber, you _did it!_ We beat _Calem!_ Our Calem! Champion of Kalos! Look at us!"

It was wrapped around the enormous turtle, crying into its shell. Through the natural armor, it could hear Limber's heart beating just as hard and fast as its own was. It no longer had to worry - now its heart was beating in excitement, rather than fear. It felt amazing. Even Froakie was cheering loudly, speaking faster than it thought he could about how proud he was.

Meanwhile, Calem knelt over his fallen starter. Wordlessly, he retrieved Delphox's Ball and returned him.

Politely, he waited until the Ditto were done celebrating and acknowledged him first. Only then did he speak. "I guess that makes you the Champion, now," he said quietly, gently. He chuckled, then slowly stood up to meet his image's gaze.

"It was all my fault for underestimating you," he explained. "But a Ditto - who would have guessed a Ditto would ever make it this far? Only one of my mom's could do it, that's for sure."

He breathed deeply, then his voice took on a certain edge. "Now, this is me trying to be a gracious loser," he pointed out. "Outwardly I'm congratulating you on becoming Kalos's next Champion, but inside... it's ripping me up that my reign was cut so short by the very species of Pokémon I went on an adventure in order to get away from."

Imposter looked him curiously in the eye, not understanding his words.

Calem sighed heavily. "But enough about me. You wouldn't care either way. So I'll just say... you've made it pretty dang far, for a Pokémon."

He stepped up to the Ditto. "Now, come with me... I was hoping I wouldn't have to come back to this place so soon, but I have no choice."

Imposter looked on in wonder as Calem stepped onto the elevator that took it to this place. As if cautiously, it arose and strutted over to the platform, Limber and Froakie in tow.

"Er, this is kind of awkward," Calem said with skirmish, "Can-Can you please call that Ditto back? It's weirding me out looking like that. You understand, right?"

Of course; it looked just like his Mega Blastoise. Imposter glanced at its friend, who was still out of breath and hanging on by a thread.

"Limber... you can deform now, if you want," it suggested. Limber looked happy to.

Imposter carefully bent down and scooped it up, creating an acceptable base with its arms. It turned back to Calem with an expectant smile.

"Uh, sure, I guess that works too," he acquiesced. "Let's just get this over with."

He tapped his foot twice on the glass, and suddenly the whole elevator started rising. Far above in the ceiling, a hole was opening up, large enough to fit the circular stage.

It was a tense trip up, with Calem hardly uttering a word. Even Imposter could tell he was downtrodden about something - the loss, probably. That must have been it.

When the elevator finally slowed to a stop, the trainers were in a room completely different: the lighting was much dimmer, the ceiling lower, and the space smaller in general. But even the attic of Kalos's Pokémon League was dressed in shiny, polished metals in which Imposter could see its face.

"This is the Hall of Fame," Calem moaned monotonously, as if reciting lines he repeated daily. "Here is where League Champions are recorded for all eternity... _or at least five weeks._ " He had mumbled the last part, just barely audible.

So - was there something Imposter had to do? It felt unprepared for making an accomplishment such as this.

"What are you waiting for?" Calem asked impatiently. "Put your Balls in the machine. Get this over with..."

Okay; Imposter could do that. In front of the two was a large device with six Poké Ball-sized indentations in it. Imposter stepped up, plopped Limber onto a flat part of the machine (causing Calem to wince a bit), and dug around for the Balls of its teammates.

There were five; it made sure specifically to put Limber's on last. But there was still one empty space, making the Ditto feel uncomfortable.

It knew a solution. It returned to its bag - there it was, nestled right in its special mesh pocket. Imposter placed the Premier Ball in the final slot. That looked much better. That looked like a real team.

Calem looked at it sideways. "You only used five Ditto in our battle," he observed apathetically. "What's with the sixth Ball?"

Imposter looked at the capsule, then to Calem. The look in its eyes must have said it all.

"Oh. That's... yours, isn't it?"

Imposter nodded. It reached over and hoisted Limber back into its arms, to watch the six Balls glow rhythmically. Somehow it felt its heart bleating in tune with it - it felt weird, but only lasted a few seconds.

It turned to Calem. The defeated Champion was looking down in disappointment and shame, but was clearly containing most of his feelings. Finally he spoke.

"That confirms it. You're the Champion, now," he lamented. "And I'm the first one to ever lose that title to a Pokémon... much less a purple jelly blob playing dress-up."

That was right. The Champion! That was its title now: Champion Imposter. It found the thought very amusing indeed. Serena would be proud... or greatly upset... or both.

But, looking to its left, it found one of its Ditto instincts going off: its subject was hurting, and it began to feel sorry for him. But the battle was over - Calem should have moved on by now. He even lost so incredibly closely that there should have been no chance of a confidence problem, so Imposter knew not how to handle it.

Yet his face was filled with such sullen disappointment that it had to do something. It liked Calem, after all. Who would not? Especially after he let it borrow his body for so long. Seeing him sad made something cold tingle in its breast, an uncomfortable sensation, so it decided it had to do something.

So it poked him. Why? That was all it thought to do.

"H-Hey, don't touch-" he darted sideways, then shuffled back. "Whatever. Let's just get out of here."

He turned around and didn't stop until he was back on the elevator. Imposter glanced down to Limber, then sideways to Froakie, and followed suit.

 _And that is how a Pokémon became the Champion of Kalos._

 _~End of Part Nine~_

* * *

Imposter _Fact of the Day:_ _(Spoilers for S/M, but it's been out for long enough that you probably already know it) So, in Sun and Moon, the player - as Champion - has their own Champion battle music. And it's a slightly altered version of the iconic Pok_ _é_ _mon title screen theme for all the games. Which makes me think that every time a player is the Champion themselves, the title screen music for that game, or a slightly altered version of it, is their Champion theme - so in this case, Calem's is the opening theme from X/Y. Much more fitting for him than Diantha's, anyway._

* * *

 **So there we have it! Mind blown yet? I really hope I pulled this off right, my goodness... Anyway, just a heads-up, there is one more chapter in this story, and it probably won't be out next week. There's a few things I want to do when it comes out, and at the moment I'm unable to have them ready. The week after that should be fine, though.**

 **Well, that's all, folks! See ya, and have a fantastic day!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Well hi! Back! Final chapter time - and omvhbejdfjsbvh it is long. You wanna know how long? Twenty pages in point-ten Verdana. Specifically? I didn't do this on purpose, believe me, but it came out to be exactly 11,111 words long. It's longer than the thing I did last summer with more than a hundred (albeit very short) chapters. I'm not kidding. You might wanna pull up a chair.**

 **Anyway, hopefully it'll clear up some things, wrap up some loose ends, and hopefully it'll be entertaining. I think I like how it came out. Little note before we start though, there are a few things to look forward to in the final A/N, so look out for that. So uh, here we go!**

* * *

Whenever there was a change in Champion, certain things had to happen.

Imposter did not know how other regions handled it - it was only just now learning how Kalos did - but once the last one is defeated, the first thing to occur is the Pokémon League shuts down for a brief period.

That is, challengers are no longer accepted until the new Champion is good and ready for it: forty-eight hours minimum, one hundred twenty maximum. During that time is often when the region is most susceptible to outside threats, but that goes for any change in leadership. This is time the new Champion uses to sort out his or her position. To get further acquainted with the Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and to make some changes, if necessary. Of course, to keep things fair, this was a long and complicated process requiring the agreement of many people, and Imposter just could not be bothered to get into it.

So it rode out its first few days as Champion with as little care as it could about its new role in management. The rest of the League, Calem included, was eager to continue on as if nothing ever happened, stopping only if the Ditto expressed a desire for it.

The teen was the one who took it the worst, of course. Incredulous that he lost his title so soon, and to a Pokémon to boot, he spent those days scouring the oldest parts of the region for any legal statements saying that the Champion had to be a human. He always returned fruitless except for a better understanding of Old Kalosian.

Nearly halfway into Imposter's first week was one of the largest celebrations Imposter had seen - and it was all in honor of it, Kalos's newest League Champ.

The festival was held on Vernal Avenue in Lumiose City on the first sunny day after its victory. The street was closed off for anyone in vehicles that day, and an enormous stage was set up for Imposter and its affiliates for a proper presentation to the region.

Being the middle of July, the sun was beating down on the street so hard that most Pokémon were kept in their balls so their bare feet would not be burned. The smell of salted street food wafted about the area, and the sounds of people milling about mingled with those of wild bird Pokémon chirping overhead. Street performers sang and danced and played their music, hats and guitar cases filling quickly with the tips of kind strangers. Photographers were taking it in too, accommodating the crowds of tourists looking to remember the experience. It was a pleasant scene for anyone who appreciated the Lumiose City celebratory culture.

Even better, everyone Imposter knew was there: Grace, Serena, Shauna and its other friends, Sycamore, Sina and Dexio, the Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and all past Kalos Champions who bothered to attend such a celebration so soon after attending Calem's. Even notables from other regions made an appearance to congratulate the Ditto - or simply to verify that, indeed, a Pokémon had become Champion.

Everyone seemed to have varying levels of concern for the fact that Kalos was now being led in part by a Pokémon, but then, the two Champions preceding it were each less than two decades old at the time of their initial Hall of Fame induction. Besides, there was a time and place for everything - and for the naysayers, it was not now.

All Imposter had to do here was stand up on the stage, letting the public take it in. Reporters crowded in the front, their cameras locked on the new Champion. It looked around; people lined the street up and down, gaping in awe of the Ditto that surpassed who last week was the strongest trainer in the region.

Joining it on stage were Froakie, Serena, Shauna, Tierno, and... Imposter would remember the shorter teen's name later. Sycamore took center stage, spewing some type of speech - Imposter was not listening. There was so much talking, and everything was so loud.

Next in line was Calem: the trainer unfortunate enough not only to lose to it, but to have to advertise the loss to the whole region. One could tell his resignation speech was likely written just this morning, perhaps in the limo taking him here. That meant it was short, sparing the rest of Kalos from his annoyed laments and allowing the celebration to return sooner.

It let the fame wash over it for a while. Not being able to speak, while incredibly frustrating ninety percent of the time, meant it was not expected to make a speech. All the interviewers, the reporters, the curiosity of the region - Imposter was responsible for satisfying exactly none of it.

Serena's speech was next, but the way she delivered it was mildly confusing. She clearly looked happy to be standing up there; she and Shauna were credited with stopping Team Flare along with Imposter, with the two boys as backup. They each took turns recounting the story, albeit dressing it up considerably. The public did not need to know that their new Champion had left the heroine Serena under the town of Geosenge.

But her face also showed something else. It was not resentment... Imposter had seen enough of that to know what it looked like. This was something else - determination, that was it! Rivalry! Whenever she spoke of Imposter, her words carried an air of superiority. She was coming for it next, and she was going to make sure it knew that.

Serena stepped back from the mic and returned to her place in line, shooting Imposter a playfully stuck-up smile. It blinked in response.

Sycamore, apparently the one in charge of all this, stepped back up and addressed the crowd. "Thank you, Serena," he said calmly. "Now, normally I'd ask our new Champion up here to say a few words," he started sheepishly, "but that wouldn't get us very far today, would it?"

Oh, good - of all the times to start listening, Imposter decided to tune in right in time for a joke about its muteness. Its eyelids fell halfway in disappointment. It could not talk, sure, but if it wanted to it could try to gesture at least some of what it wanted to convey-

Wait a moment. In its bag, there should have still been... It checked, subtly. Yes. It was still there. Once it got a free moment, Imposter would be sure to take it out.

"So, I'm going to bring this part of the celebration to a close," Sycamore went on. "But we won't be leaving until much later tonight! Feel free to stay as long as you want!"

With that, he clicked off the microphone, turned around, and rounded up the trainers on stage. They all filed off, and walked into the crowd.

Of course, Imposter and Serena were immediately overrun by newscasters and journalists sent to cover the event. Sycamore did his best to ward them off, but only when a certain bystander took notice and stepped up did they start to disperse.

"Hey now, easy on the cameras... Easy on the mics," VW insisted, following the trainers with an older man in tow. "Move along, move along, we need some space here, guys... Got some big important Champions coming through here."

That seemed to do after a while, long enough for the group to congregate on the sidelines with only minimal autograph-seeking from the trainers crawling under the velvet rope meant to contain them.

Serena sighed in relief. "Hah, thanks, Dad. Who knows how long they would have kept at us if you hadn't shown up?"

"I don't want to think about that," VW said. "You should have seen my Champion Celebration all those years ago. Believe it or not this old man was pretty hot stuff back in the day!"

"Da-ad."

The man to VW's left seemed like he had something to say. He looked older than him, though not elderly; nearly fifty, if Imposter had to guess. His light blue hair had taken on a silvery glimmer around the edges, and the lines of his face were slightly more defined than those of younger men, but that was the most age his face dared betray. He was dressed just as formally as the man to his right, and if one looked closely, they would be able to pick out similarities between the outfits - as if one incorporated elements from the other. VW's silver cuffs were more elegant on this man's sleeves, and they each wore their Key Stones on special stickpins - VW's clipped onto his tie, this man's onto his vest. He crossed his arms, looking flatly to VW, and spoke up. "Oh, don't be that way. It wasn't that long ago."

"Wait, wait, wait, waitaminute, hey!" Serena hollered, "Yes, um, excuse me, but is that _Steven Stone?_ "

"In the flesh," this Steven responded. "Wallace couldn't make it; busy with his contests or something. So you're Serena?"

"N-Never mind who I am, let's talk about who you are!" Her eyes were bright as stars. "You were the Champion of Hoenn all throughout my childhood - you're the guy my dad could never beat! Oh, the stories I've heard about you."

"Now now, heheh," VW butted in, "No need to talk about all that, it's behind us. What we're here for is to celebrate _this_ fella." He gestured to Imposter.

But it was still curious about who all these people were. Not one for attention, it made a show of looking Steven up and down, searching for an elaboration.

The man snapped to meet its eyes, then reached out for Imposter's hand, which it curiously shook. "Yes, I'm Steven, nice to meet you," he greeted. "Just became a Champion, I hear. And you're... a Ditto?"

Imposter figured it would be hearing this a lot more often now. It nodded.

"Could have had me fooled," he said with a smile. "What a story that must have been. Becoming a trainer and taking the League challenge... It isn't easy for full-time humans, so I'm sure it was only that much harder for you."

Imposter shrugged. It would not know.

"Anyway, you've already met Vito here, right? You know he hails from the grand region of Hoenn?"

Vito... That was right; VW had responded to that name before, Imposter remembered. The only one who used it much was his wife, whom it met during its time back home. Froakie had said that was what the V stood for.

It nodded. Many good people and Pokémon came from Hoenn, it knew. Maybe it would visit once.

"Well, now that we're introduced," Steven requested, "would you mind catching me up here? I never did meet your daughter, V."

Vito walked over to the girl, flung an arm across her shoulders, and announced proudly, "My pride and joy, Serena Valorie Winstrate." She squinted in embarrassed pride, and he closed his eyes in casual explanation. "She's done pretty well for herself here in Kalos, I understand."

Serena shrugged. "Took down an evil organization, mastered Mega Evolution, found seven shinies in as many weeks. Nothing big."

Vito stepped back. " _Seven_ shinies? You didn't tell me about that!"

"Only caught six, though," she muttered. "And I don't tell you everything."

Her father shook his head in disbelief. "Oh, boy, what a family mine is..."

Imposter was feeling rather left out, not knowing what was going on. Thankfully, Sycamore was still listening, and seemed just as confused.

"So, er, how do you two know each other?" he wondered aloud. Vito and Steven shared a look.

"Well, twenty or so years ago, I was Champion of the Hoenn League," Steven recapped, "just like Serena here said. And her father, boy, he was my most persistent challenger, by far. He wanted to become Champion so badly, I almost felt sorry for defeating him so often."

"Okay, that isn't true," Vito interjected, "It was like... twice."

"Yeaahh... twice," Steven agreed with a subtle wink in Serena's direction. "Anyway-"

"Anyway, around when this young one was seven," Vito cut in again, much to Steven's chagrin. "I had gotten fed up with losing to him, and after some long thinking, decided to go far away to train. That took me to Kalos and a Pokémon League that was much easier... Experience Share, and all that."

He and Steven had a good laugh at that. "Anyway, I ended up becoming Champion of the League here, instead of in my home region, and found myself stuck here for the five years I carried out my Championship. I was only able to reach the rest of my family by phone calls and video chat, but we made the long-distance thing work. We wanted Serena and my wife to come here if I did win the League, but she ended up being too involved in Hoenn to leave when it happened. She'd just taken over the Mauville City Gym after the previous Leader retired, and I didn't even know until it was too late.

"Other than that though, I did enjoy being Champion here. It's such a beautiful region. It was bittersweet stepping down when that woman Diantha came in, but it meant that I could go back home with my family, so I was happy to let a younger person take over. That was around three years ago.

"Eventually, with reports of a villainous team taking hold in Kalos, the League here invited me back over to help deal with them, if I could. I missed the region anyway, and had been wanting to show it off to my wife and daughter. The former'd since resigned from Gym Leading to become a traveling Veteran trainer like me, so we were free to come over. We didn't want to let our daughter out into the world when Team Flare was so ubiquitous, but Sycamore here convinced us otherwise. And we sure are glad he did!"

Serena giggled. "I would have found a way to go about it anyway," she admitted. "You know me. I've been wanting to train Pokémon since... I can't remember. It's in my blood."

Steven held a curious look on his face. "Hey, Vito, where is your wife? Haven't seen her around yet."

"Oh, she's-" Vito stopped. "Can you guess?"

"Boutique Couture."

"On the nose. She'll be out shortly. Probably at some point this week."

The two snickered like a pair of old friends recalling embarrassing memories of each other. The rest of the group looked on, feeling a bit excluded. Sycamore was standing in surprise. "Is that all true? Serena - you're the daughter of a Gym Leader _and_ a Champion?"

"Former and former," she corrected, "but yes. That's why I want to become Champion myself so badly; it's kind of a Winstrate thing, that's what I'm told."

"Well, it's still an admirable ambition to have," the professor agreed. "But it looks like you'll have to get through this guy for it now."

He squeezed Imposter's shoulder proudly. The Ditto shook with the attention.

"Heh, yeah," Serena agreed. "But I'm not worried about that too much. Actually, the person I want to battle right now is this one!"

She pointed to Steven, eyes glimmering. "I want to see if the stories are true about you and your Mega Metagross! If your Skarmory really can fly higher than the legendary Rayquaza, if your Carbink is tougher to chip than a Mega Steelix!"

Vito looked at her skeptically, traces of a blush appearing across his cheeks. "Woah, woah now, honey, I didn't say-"

Steven laughed. "Oh, it's all alright," he said, "You want to battle me? You know I'm no longer a Champion, and winning wouldn't net you a fancy title."

"I don't care!" Serena was rhythmically tapping her fingers across a Ball in excitement. "If Dad says it's okay, I'd like to spar. As long as you're here in Kalos, I mean, this is like a dream for me."

Steven held his hands up. "I didn't say I wasn't going to. Okay, let's battle. We just need to find a place that's out of the way."

He was right; tens, probably hundreds of people were milling about through the street, checking out the Vernal Avenue businesses as the kids played games and snacked on galettes. Most of the middle of the street was open for walking, however, and some ameteur trainers were even practicing against each other.

Seeing this, the trainers decided it would be okay to face each other there. It would surely create a spectacle, but neither of them minded. Vito could be seen shaking his head in doubt as his daughter stepped onto the field across from the trainer he had tried so hard to defeat, yet never did.

Imposter watched them in curiosity. Steven led with Skarmory, and Serena with Charizard, both exuding intimidating auras. The Ditto could be sure it heard an intense piece of theme music accompanying the battle, which Froakie noticed too: "Hey, does anyone else hear trumpets?"

But Imposter was torn away from this thought when it felt a tap on its shoulder. It was Vito, holding expectance in his eyes.

"When they're done..." he began in a low tone, still watching the trainers, "What do you say we have a battle of our own? I once held the torch you now carry as Champion of Kalos, and I've dedicated myself to battling each of my successors at least once after their induction. Besides, I'm rather curious about you. What do you think?"

Imposter blinked. Mesmerised by the situation, it nodded.

"Grand. Now, let's stop talking. I need to see how this goes!"

* * *

"Okay! This is fine! We can do this!"

Serena's hair was frazzled, and her eyes crazy, as the battle neared its end. "I am going to win! Somehow..."

Imposter thought it saw how Serena was when she was losing before, but never this badly. She had just called Chesnaught back, who was easily defeated by Steven's Mega Metagross and its Zen Headbutt move. Imposter was not paying much attention, but it thought both trainers were each defending with their last.

"Yeah! I've been saving this last one just for you!" Serena said loudly. She threw in her Absol.

"You knew this was coming," she insisted, shakily smiling. "Absol - Mega-Evolve!"

It was this that made Imposter snap to attention, watching the battle in awe. Absol's Mega Evolution was always the most elegant, in its opinion.

"Yeah - we got this-" Serena drawled. Next to the Ditto, Vito was holding his face in one hand out of embarrassment.

"Good, now use Night Slash!" Serena ordered desperately. "Gogogo!"

Mega Absol charged forwards, landing the attack expertly - even getting the critical hit that could decide the match. But Metagross was still ready to fight.

"Okay, it's down! Now just survive this hit... this one hit, and this'll be ours. Please!"

She was begging. Vito looked on in fascination, a glimpse of hope splashing across his face.

"Go, Serena!" he shouted. "You might actually be able to-"

He stopped short when Mega Metagross moved again. This Hammer Arm was devastating - leaving only a few winks of life left in Absol's ability to fight. But he was still standing.

Serena beamed. "Yes! You took it! Absol, you're the best! Everyone, my Absol is the best! Now use Night Slash, for the win!"

Absol, slowly recovering from the attack, reared up. His wings were matted together, his horns crooked. His breathing heavy, he swept forwards.

Steven smirked.

"Metagross, use Bullet Punch."

Metagross did exactly as it was told, coming in quickly and shaving off whatever was left of Absol's health.

"Absol-!"

Serena rushed down beside her Pokémon. The battle was officially lost, although very closely.

"I-I'm sorry," she whispered. "You can come on back, now."

Absol dematerialized, leaving his trainer sullenly kneeling in defeat. With reluctance, she got up. "Man, I thought I had you," she complained. "But I guess I didn't really expect to win in the first place, so I can't be so disappointed. At least I got to battle you myself and meet your team in person! It's an honor, sir!"

Her opponent chuckled. "Sir? You can just call me Steven. Heh, members of your family can even go as short as Steve."

Serena giggled deliriously. "Well, I don't know about that, but thanks for the chance to battle you, Steven!"

"Likewise. I enjoyed myself. Your father should be proud."

"Heheheh. Thanks."

With that, the trainers headed out of the street, meeting up with Imposter, Vito, and Sycamore. Serena looked stunned by her father's short congratulatory hug and Sycamore's approving pat on the head. Imposter smiled at the scene.

Vito finished his spiel to Serena, then turned to it: "Anyway, are you ready, Champion?"

Imposter nodded. Ready as it would ever be.

* * *

The next two battlers took the center of the street. "Okay," Vito declared, cracking his knuckles. "I'm up next."

Imposter heard Serena and Steven cheering him on enthusiastically, dampening its spirits a little - until it heard the other voices.

"Whoo, go Imposter! Go Ditto! Yeah, you can do it, man! Or, not-man - thing? I don't know - but you got it!"

It spun around, and leaning against the velvet rope was the speaker, Shauna, pumping her arms in the air. Less exuberantly standing next to her was Grace, its very own trainer. She looked every bit as proud as Imposter expected.

This made it smile brightly before turning back around. Now it was ready.

Vito reached down to his left hip, where a silver hoop hung off of his corduroys. On the ring were attached three standard Poké Balls, one of which he was fingering now.

With a determined nod, he unclipped the Ball, tossing it back and forth between his hands and finishing with it in his right. "Whenever you're ready, Champ."

Imposter nodded as well, one of its own Balls in hand. To Shauna's incessant rooting, it threw the contraption onto the field.

To Serena's, Vito did the same.

 _You are challenged by Veteran Vito!_

This would be the first battle Imposter had since the one against Calem, the one that gave it its prestigious title. This would be its first chance to show the region how its new Champion battled.

Here went nothing.

The Pokémon took the field; Vito's first was the one he used for Flying on, Swellow. Onlookers 'ooh'-ed as Imposter's Ditto copied it gene for gene.

But not molecule for molecule. Ditto was not holding an item, but Swellow was adorned with the same blue Scarf that a certain Team Flare Admin's Braviary wore. That Braviary was tough. Imposter knew from the start that this would not be easy.

"Swellow, Return."

At first it thought Vito was calling his Pokémon back to switch out, in which case he could have used U-Turn to cause some damage: the smarter move, even Imposter knew. But no - this was the move called Return, a Normal-Type attack that Imposter did not expect to be so powerful. But Ditto was still up.

"You do that too, Ditto."

Swellow took almost as much damage as Ditto did; that would not have surprised Imposter if it knew that Return's power was based on friendship. It would also remain unsurprised when Ditto fainted to the next one.

But Imposter did not know that, and so it was surprised. And a battler taken off-guard at the beginning is usually not the one in control by the end.

Understanding this at least, Imposter let the cheering of its friends ring in its ears and pull it back to reality. It sent another.

Who took the Return well, and dished another for the finishing blow. Each trainer now had one down.

Vito's next was another Pokémon the Ditto recognized from watching his battles with Serena - it looked similar to an upside-down Poké Ball, but much larger. The opposing trainer called it an Electrode. Clipped underneath its face was a small, polished stone - an Electrodite, perhaps, Imposter realized with dread.

"Light Screen."

But the Pokémon did not Mega-Evolve; this set Imposter on edge more than if it had, it would bet. Electrode set up the screen, giving Imposter a second to command a move in return. Which happened to be the move it commanded.

Electrode rolled backwards, comically moving about the field with its face constantly hitting the ground. "Now, Discharge."

Poor Ditto did not stand a chance. Next in.

Vito smirked. "Okay, now, I think it's time. You ready? Big move."

Imposter gulped. The last time it heard that phrase it was referring to Sheer Cold, a One-Hit KO move. With a mockingly determined face, Electrode started shaking, rapidly losing color. The stone it held began glowing too.

 _The Normal Gem strengthened Explosion's power!_

Vito's eyes darted around, and he began to shoo off bystanders he determined to be too close. Then his Pokémon... exploded.

The blast was huge; Imposter knew it could probably have been a lot larger if there weren't so many people here. It placed a foot back for balance, hardly staying upright itself. When the dust cleared, both battlers were fainted.

"Oh... Ditto..." Imposter cooed. That attack was brutal. It called its friend back.

Now it was time to get serious. Vito thanked his Pokémon, then called his next: "Go for it, Darmanitan!"

Imposter realized how much it was losing, and knew - there was one Ditto for this job.

"Do it, Limber."

Vito's reaction when this one failed to Transform immediately was similar to Calem's, although less amused. "It needs to spend a move to Transform," he realized in a whisper. He smirked. "Okay, Darmanitan. Belly Drum!"

That was Vito's grave mistake in this battle.

For when Limber did Transform, both Pokémon's Attack stats were raised to the maximum, and they were evenly matched in Speed. But now Darmanitan's health was cut in half, while Limber was still kicking at full.

Observing this, onlooking Ace Trainers gasped and journalists furiously wrote down the details. Vito seemed to slowly realize his mistake. He ran a stressed hand through his green hair, muttering his regret.

Imposter stayed blissfully oblivious to its advantageous position, however, not fully comprehending how this situation played out. So instead of gawking at Limber's newfound power, it commanded a move.

"Stone Edge."

Much like Siebold's Gyarados, Imposter felt truly bad for the opponent unfortunate enough to receive this attack. Although seeing the victorious look on Limber's face with the knockout made it forget any guilt.

"Imposter, that was amazing!" it was saying. "I feel so alive! So there are situations where my ability can come in handy, who knew?"

Imposter was beaming too. "Yeah, good job!"

Meanwhile Vito was brushing his hands across his available Balls, clearly lost in contemplation. Finally he decided on one - a Pokémon Imposter had seen before, mainly while battling Team Flare grunts: a Swalot.

Vito's face showed worry, but his voice showed conviction. "Earthquake!"

"Limber, Fire Punch!"

"On it, boss!"

Swalot was not a fast Pokémon, and both trainers knew it. Limber had no problems taking it out quickly, before even the first seismic wave could shake the ground.

Vito bit his lip; Imposter formed a fist. Limber snickered. Behind them, Shauna and Grace were going crazy.

"I guess... I can't risk Ala... This is a hard decision, but tss, go, Shiftry."

A large Grass-Type appeared, swinging his leafy fans with elegance. Atop his head was something that resembled a crown; a King's Rock, Imposter realized after a second. "Quickly - Fling!" Vito ordered.

Imposter spluttered. "Fire Punch again."

Limber was unstoppable - Shiftry too fell beneath it. Vito shook his head.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," he said. "But you leave me no choice... I still want to win! So here's my ace! I really hope this works!"

There was one more Ball on Vito's ring, which he grabbed with gusto. "I'm not losing to you," he insisted, then threw in his last.

It was an Alakazam. Imposter had seen that before too - how could it forget? This one was monstrous, however. Even Limber looked off-put by the majesty he exuded.

But if the Ditto thought they were afraid before what happened next, they had another thing coming.

 _The opposing Alakazam's Alakazite is reacting to Vito's Mega Tie!_

The Key Stone clipped onto his yellow necktie glowed in succession with the Mega Stone tied around Alakazam's neck. The Pokémon was now imbued with psychic power comparable to that of the legendary Mewtwo. Whether or not the Ditto knew this, they did know that he had the power to turn the battle around.

It was Imposter who recovered first. "F-Fire Punch again!"

"Alakazam - Psychic!"

Limber had been in such a roll; but this was where it had to end. Alakazam had moved first, and the Ditto's psyche could not have been prepared for an attack from something that powerful.

Limber collapsed to the ground, helpless. Hand flying to its mouth in shock, Imposter dared not to even look. It called it back wordlessly.

Vito breathed a visible sigh of relief. But Imposter still had one friend left. It was down to these two: the Ditto could still win.

It smirked as Ditto Transformed. It always had luck with this, when it came down to who moved first. "Shadow Ball," it said. "Do it!"

Vito had the same idea. Alakazam and his copy prepared the moves, their trainers wishing in suspense for their success. The people watching and cheering on were now holding their breath in anticipation.

 _The opposing Alakazam used Shadow Ball!_

Ditto tumbled to the ground in defeat, gasps of shock echoing throughout the surrounding crowd. A soft murmur of disbelief rippled through it; their new Champion, after only a few days, was now standing beaten by an old one.

The trainers called back their Pokémon. Vito stepped up to his opponent, smiling warmly.

"That was a good battle," he admitted. "Don't feel down about losing. I've known Alakazam ever since we were both very young; it isn't easy to beat a combination like that. And you had me worried there! I'll remember not to make that Belly Drum mistake next time, you bet."

Imposter looked him in the eyes. He just beat the Kalos Region Champion in a Pokémon battle. That made him the new one; right?

"Oh, me?" he went on, "Oh, I know I can take over the Championship once the League starts accepting challenges again. But I don't think I will. I've done my time there, and now I have to make it up to my family. You enjoy your seat for as long as you can, y'hear?"

Now it was grinning. It nodded. That was a plan.

"Winstrate?"

Vito's vision darted sideways to where Steven was stepping past the rope. "Y-Your daughter convinced me," he started. "Let's do this tournament-style. I know we both just won each of our own, but if you're up for one more battle... I'd like to settle this."

Imposter looked between them, trying to read their faces. Cautiously, it stepped back, and made its way to Shauna and the others.

Vito nodded. "As long as you'll let me heal up my team. Although I've never beaten you before; we already know who will win."

Steven stepped up close to explain quietly: "These people all want a show."

Vito's eyes swept over the crowd. "Ah, I see. In that case, you'd best not go easy."

Steven chuckled. "I could say the same to you! Go heal your team, then let's get to it!"

At this point, someone was tapping Imposter on the shoulder. It whipped around to see who but Diantha, the woman it had been expecting to meet in the Pokémon League.

"H'llo, boy," she greeted. "I just wanted to say congratulations on becoming Champion. I certainly didn't expect it, but here we are."

Imposter glowed with pride. At these words, it was able to forget its lost battle and focus again on its recent accomplishment.

"Actually, I do have to wonder what things are going to be like from now on. With a Pokémon leading the country. Are you sure you're up for that? I hope you understand what you've gotten yourself into."

The look on Imposter's face must have given it all away. Diantha raised her eyebrows. "Well, for one, you now manage the region's Gym Leaders and Elite Four, and you're the greatest line of defense against things like Team Flare..."

At this, she trailed off. She looked around rapidly, held onto its shoulders, and went on quietly. "Actually, there is something I want to make sure you do. You remember when Lysandre - nearly destroyed the region? You were almost completely on your own, I heard. That was because everyone else was captured, Imposter. They were keeping us shut up in Team Flare's headquarters, otherwise we would have been out there with you. But Calem wasn't with us - he later told me that one of the Elite Four members had trapped him at the League. As it turns out, Malva's an admin in the group, who'd infiltrated the League. That's more than enough grounds to revoke her position, and I've been pestering Calem to do it ever since then, but apparently he's never 'gotten around to it'. So can you just take care of that for me? I no longer have the authority to make those changes, but I do care about the region. And someone needs to do it.

"Of course, there's also the issue of who would replace her... I'm sure you know some trainers that are strong enough, and willing to take the position. Don't you?"

As a matter of fact... Imposter did.

Immediately it grabbed Diantha's hand and pulled her in the direction of whom it had in mind. She was not to far away, so as uncomfortable as the walk was, it did not last long.

Serena did not even notice the two walking up, she was so engaged in the battle her dad was having. So she was startled out of her mind when Imposter grabbed onto her sides, yanked her off the ground, and plopped her in front of Diantha.

The girl stopped her yelping and flung herself around to get a good look at who had picked her up, deflating significantly when she saw whom it was.

"Oh, it's just you," she sighed, relieved. "Did you two want something from me?"

Diantha looked her up and down. "Imposter, her?" She giggled. "Well, I don't see why not, I guess - I really was hoping you'd say I could do it, though."

Serena looked around. "Do what?"

Diantha made strong eye contact with her. "Serena, the Kalos Pokémon League is in dire need of some rearranging," she explained. "You-know-who is finally going to get her what-for, and the Champion here decided you would make a good replacement. If you'd like to join the Elite Four, I think it's saying you're welcome to."

Serena gasped and faced Imposter. "The Elite Four!?" she repeated, "Me? I-I mean, I'm - flattered by your offer, but wow, the Elite Four..."

She lightly touched her chin in thought. I mean, I've always been aiming just a little higher, to be Champion. But I've been losing so often that _you_ beat me to it, so now I'm not so sure it's gonna happen-"

She shook her head. "No, what am I saying? One day I will become Champion, but until then, I guess being on the Elite Four is the next best thing. If you'll have me, miss, I'll accept."

Diantha shook her head, amused. "Don't tell that to me, tell it to the Champion. I don't have that kind of say anymore."

Serena spun around. "Heh, yeah, I guess that's right. You're the Champion now. It's going to be so weird thinking of you as a superior, but.. I don't really have a choice right now, do I? Anyway, my answer is yeah. Sign me up for the Elite Four."

"Great." Diantha clasped her hands together. "See? We just did in five minutes what Calem couldn't do in five weeks. Well, there's still a lot of paperwork to take care of with something like this, but at least we're getting it done."

She sighed and shook her head. "Oh, it's just a petty little thing. Calem and I are old rivals from a few years ago. Until recently, I thought I'd beaten him for good when I defeated your father and became Champion first, but it wasn't the end for him. That whole time, he kept training to beat me, and I was so unprepared that I couldn't defend my title when he showed up that day. It's just a shame it happened so soon before the whole Team Flare incident."

"Well, at least the region's cleaned up nicely," Serena reminded her. "That's all behind us; we don't need to talk about it. Say, where is Calem anyway?"

Diantha craned her neck, scanning the area. "Right over there." She pointed. "Not far."

The three turned; there he was, seeming bored, apparently being chatted up by a confident-looking Shauna.

"So, you're a human, right?" she was inquiring, casually leaning against a lightpost.

"I am nineteen years old," was his only response.

"Oh."

Serena shook her head amusedly, clicking her tongue. "Yep, that's our Shauna."

Diantha snickered while Imposter stood in silent confusion. Some things it would never understand.

A shout directed the trainers' attention back to the nearby battle. Steven's Aggron was head-to-head with Vito's Shiftry, duking it out like it was the last battle of their lives. Serena, Diantha, and Imposter were mesmerized by their form, eyes immediately glued to the scene.

But Froakie, who was not a trainer, had something else in mind. "Hey, 'Pasta."

He was still nestled on its shoulder, so it only had to turn its head to make eye contact.

"So, I was jus' wondering... what now? You going to run the region or something, that what Old Lady Haircut was saying? 'Cause I don't think that's whatcha want, is it?"

"W-What?"

"I mean, this fancy title, this celebration - they ain't giving you all this for nothin', you know. She made it sound like you've got a lotta responsibility now. Do you want that?"

Imposter mulled it over. "I... was just doing this because everyone else was," it explained. "It just seemed expected. Not that I'd actually win, but... why wouldn't I want to? I love battling! And Champions do that all the time, right?"

"Well, you can talk it over with some of the others here, what they thought of it. I'm just looking out for ya. Just 'cause we've met a lot of people and some Pokémon who don't seem to like, well, a Pokémon being a trainer and all. I'm actually kinda worried for you. For your life."

This made Imposter's eyelids shoot up. "For my life? Froakie, I think you might be overreac-"

"I shouldn't have said that, okay?" he cut it off. "But it's already happened once. If there are more people like Lysandre out there... who knows. And, also, not to be this way but everyone you're leading now just saw you _lose_ a battle. Which Champions aren't - supposed - to do. It's sending a bad message about your ability to protect them, you know?"

Imposter turned back to the battle, quickly thinking it over. "Well..." it started, "Yeah. I think you're right. Heh, I've got no idea what I'm doing here anyway."

It buried its face into one hand, concealing delirious laughter. Vito's Shifty fainted. Froakie frowned.

"But hey, you should still enjoy this too. It's all for you, ya know. What everyone was sayin' about you being impressive, I-"

He paused. "-I really think so, too. I dunno what it's like to be a Ditto. But assimilating into the culture of another _species_ , well enough to become their Champion, I couldn't do that. I know I've said some nasty stuff to you, but don't take it ta heart. Yer something special."

Imposter gave him a sideways glance. "Thanks for that, Froakie," it said, genuine gratitude in its eyes. "Now I know it must be true. Coming from you."

They turned back to the battle. Aggron was long defeated, and replaced by Aerodactyl, against whom Swalot was putting up a good fight.

"'Pasta."

"Yeah?"

"Wasn't there that thing..?"

Thing? _Oh-_

Imposter shoved its hand into its pocket, where the paper remained sloppily folded. It had forgotten about that for a while. It subtly pulled it out.

It knew the message scrawled indecipherably across the slip in dark blue ink; it put those words there itself. Whether or not anyone else would know... that was the curious thing.

It sighed. No; it needed attention for this, and would wait until the battle was over. That was probably polite.

* * *

 _The opposing Metagross fainted!_

Vito stood in awe, heart pounding, gripping his Poké Ball so tightly his knuckles turned white. The hot Kalos sun was not the only reason he was sweating. And there Steven was, bent over his last Pokémon, stroking it. So this was what he looked like when he lost.

The feelings bubbling up inside of Vito boiled over into his face, where a wild smile grew. Suddenly something like a Body Slam rammed into his side: it was his daughter, squeezing him in congratulations. He did it. He won. Against _him_. That had never happened before.

In exuberance, he picked up his girl by the sides and spun her around, then turned to his Darmanitan, who had landed the finishing blow. He affectionately ruffled the fur on his head in thanks.

"Well, you've done it, old man," Steven teased. "How does it feel?"

"How does it feel?" Vito repeated. "I've been training for thirty years for this day!"

Steven closed his eyes. "Well, I sure do hope it was worth it," he said. "Well-played, old friend. Sorry I'm not the Champion of Hoenn anymore, or else you'd really have all you wanted."

Vito shook his head. "No, no, this'll do just fine," he decided. "I've had five great years as Champ already, I have my family and my team, and with this victory... I couldn't ask for more. Thanks for being my opponent."

He turned to the side, snorted a little, and added under his breath, "...Steve."

Steven smirked, then shook his head. "And to think this all is possible because a Ditto became Champion of Kalos. What a world it is."

With this, attention shifted back to Imposter. Champion of Kalos... after Froakie's words, that phrase sounded more like a sentence than a title. Imposter shivered. It would figure something out; all would be fine in the end.

"I still can't believe it," Diantha admitted, incredulous. "A Pokémon, Champion."

"And of all the Pokémon, our very own Imposter!" Serena added. "Who would think?"

Nods came from everyone surrounding it. Now that Imposter had a better look, the group had a lot more people it recognized than it thought at first - Calem and Shauna had made their way over, as did Steven and Vito; Sina and Dexio had made an appearance, as well as Trevor and Tierno. Grace addressed it first. "What do you think of that, bud?"

Oh, Grace. The amount of support it got from her was unparalleled by anyone else, human or Pokémon. It loved her for that, like any child would love a parent.

"Ditto... Dit-Ditto-"

It stopped and sighed. Its tongue was alien to them anyway. But it really wanted to say this, so it would try again.

"Dit-Dit-"

No, that was stupid. No matter what it did, it could never be understood by them, not vocally.

"...itt..."

It hung its head. Sycamore raised an eyebrow. "Imposter, use your words."

That was what it was trying to do, and failing horribly. _Unless_ he meant-

That was it. It shoved its hand into its pocket; the folded piece of paper! It had only jotted this down a while ago, but had already forgotten it.

Mouths formed inquisitive circles when their owners saw this. Like solving a puzzle, Imposter meticulously picked at each side until it was unfolded enough that the message was visible.

It then dropped the slip, in its clumsiness. No one was particularly surprised. It picked it up; then, realizing the paper was doing no good in its hands, handed it off to Sycamore. He was the only one who could read its scrawling, anyway.

"What is this?" he asked curiously, looking straight at the Ditto before gazing down at the paper. He smoothed it out in his hands and peered at the scratches, clearly hard at work determining the meaning. Those around him looked on too, in equal wonder.

"Oh," Sycamore said, indicating a breakthrough. "Imposter... my word, that is so sweet."

Variations of "What?" and "What does it say?" sounded throughout the group. Sycamore cleared his throat.

"I... It says, I think, 'thanks for letting me be like you'. Imposter, you came up with this all on your own?" He placed a hand gently on his chest. "I... don't know what to say. I know you meant it to all of us, but... woah."

Serena hummed; Diantha nodded; Vito crossed his arms and shifted his weight; Sina snickered; Trevor smiled fondly; Calem coughed; Grace teared up. Imposter looked down, blushing wildly.

It nodded. That was exactly what it wanted to say.

Calem was the one to step up first. "Hey, you can write? That seems like a pretty easy way out of the whole not being able to speak thing. Anyway, it's not like _I_ had much of a choice. You could have been anyone, you know. You could have been Mom. Or your girlfriend here."

With that, he gestured to Shauna, who was looking very timid; being in the presence of two Imposters was apparently making her heart beat at double the speed of the one. "Oh, um, no, we-we're not... he's - the kid is a Pokémon, let's be real."

This was said mainly to Calem, in an attempt to shut him up. "Not that there's anything wrong with that-" she added, flustered. "Pokémon are cool! Awesome, even! But I'm not dating one, eheh."

Calem rolled his eyes. So Shauna went on. "Uh, well, I hope I made it - interesting for you. Or better in some way. I-I'm bad at this stuff, so I guess uh, if you're saying thank you, I'll say you're welcome, I think? Yeah, that's the polite thing to say, isn't it?"

General affirmation from the crowd followed, so Shauna nodded. "Well, you're welcome then, I guess. And congrats again."

"Yeah, g'job, man!" came Tierno's words of praise. "Boy, I was surprised, but I'm not really perceptive like that."

Trevor chuckled. "I am," he cut in. "And I didn't suspect a thing. A mastermind, you are. I mean that in a good way."

Imposter was sure he did. Eyes fell on Sycamore, whose turn was apparently now. "Well, what do I say here?" he asked awkwardly. "Other than I'm glad to have helped you in any way I could! And thanks for all you did to stop Team Flare. And sorry, on behalf of Lysandre. I'd never thought of him as the genocide type..."

"Well, all that is behind us now," Diantha repeated. "Hopefully we shouldn't have anything to worry about now. To many peaceful years here in Kalos!"

Yeahs rippled through the crowd. The next ones to step up were Imposter's acquaintances from Route Thirteen. Dexio was playfully (but forcefully) punching it in the arm, while Sina stood on the other side, administering a noogie. It hurt, but only for a second.

"You just keep doing what you're doing," Dexio said. He briefly lifted up his aviators, allowing the Ditto to see his eyes. "We'll be watching you the whole time."

"In a _non_ -creepy way..." Sina specified, elbowing her partner ("Ow!") a little.

Then it was quiet; "Well, I suppose it's my turn now," Vito decided. "I can't say I know you quite as well as everyone else here, but I do think you're very interesting. And I think I like what you're doing. Look after the region for me, okay, Champ?"

Although unsure of how long it would be doing that, it nodded. While it was Champion, it would do that as best it could.

"So, Imposter."

The Ditto turned. Serena was strutting up very slowly, confidently.

"You've slowed me down my entire adventure. You broke my friend's heart. You made me lose a shiny white flower Flabébé when it disappeared into your bag. You stood there and did nothing while I saved your Froakie from Team Flare, after you neglected to watch him. You delayed my acquisition of the Mega Ring. You needed me to save you when you tried to help out at the Poké Ball factory. You pestered me with battles we both knew you weren't going to win. You stole all the glory of taking down Team Flare, and when I went back to help the hurt legendary Pokémon, you left me underground without a second thought. You're the reason a broken wrist kept me from challenging the Pokémon League for a _month_ after I became eligible. You trapped me in my own house when I tried to go to Victory Road myself. You punched my beloved Chesnaught in the face. You swept the Elite Four, and the Champion, on your first try, after I had been attempting it for a whole week. When I had the chance to finally make a name for myself, to stop living only in my parents' glory, you took that away too. Yet..."

Now she was inches from Imposter's face. "Yet, I don't hate you. Not even a little bit. That type of behavior would be inexcusable for a human, but you had no clue what you were doing when you did all that. Just that you were able to be a trainer at all, and become one of us... you were also after a big dream. And I have to respect that. So good job; but don't expect to be Champion for long! When you're done, it's gonna be my turn to fulfill the ultimate dream!"

Using her splinted hand, she mirrored Dexio in playfully socking Imposter in the arm; she made sure not to hurt it, though. She tilted up the brim of her hat with a smile, added, "But you're not half bad," and sauntered away.

Imposter knew there was one person who had yet to speak, and why she was waiting to go last. This woman fumbled a bit with the jacket tied around her waist, and cleared her throat.

"It's... It's one thing to be a mother who can say her son is the Champion," Grace began, "and another to be a trainer who can say her Pokémon is the Champion. No one here... No one can know how proud I am to be both. I love both you and Calem so much, it's hard to believe you two are mine..." With her forearm, she wiped her eyes. "I do miss you two when you go out for so long, you know, but I understand; I used to travel as a trainer too, in my prime. Just, whatever it is you're doing out there, please keep good old Grace in your mind?"

A sympathetic smile grew over Imposter's face, the kind one gives when they are moved to speechlessness and the smile is the only thing they can muster. Calem stepped up from behind and placed a hand on his mother's shoulder, himself not being too shy to wipe away optical moisture with the other one.

"D-Ditto," Imposter replied. "Ditto."

* * *

Hardly a week later, Imposter was standing firm in its new home in the Pokémon League's Transform Chamber. Light purple curtains fell down from the ceiling, surrounding it in the familiar color of its species. It was tranquil here. It liked that.

It closed its eyes and breathed in deep. So this was what being a Champion was like... in times of peace, that was. It was rather lonely here, though. The only company standing Champions got in here were challengers wanting to battle or League members requesting help. And their Pokémon, of course, but trainers were discouraged from letting them roam the chamber unless in a battle.

Speaking of which...

Imposter yelped loudly when something heavy yet moist landed on its head, gripping onto its hat and hair for dear life. In its surprise the Ditto failed to recognize the blue arms before they clamped themselves over its eyes; their owner then slid down the back of its head, settling on its neck. Imposter was writhing in shock the whole time.

"Hey. Guess who?"

It only started to calm down at the sound of that voice. Heart gradually calming, it started to grin.

"Oh, come on, don't do that! You really got me! Where did you even come from?"

"Well, who am I first?"

"Fine, fine, I'll guess. Serena?"

"Don't flatter me, cousin."

"Shauna?"

"No, but I can see where you'd be confused."

"Hm... Limber?"

The voice inhaled as if about to speak again, when Imposter cut it off. "No, I know it's you, Froke. Could you get off of my head?"

"Say the magic word."

"The magic word is please, right?"

"Nope."

"Abra Kadabra? Alakazam?"

"C'mon, you know what it is."

Imposter sighed. "It's Sitrus, isn't it?"

"Heh. No, it was Starf, but that idea's okay too. Forget the magic word. Gimme a Sitrus Berry, and I'm out of your hair."

Imposter hummed. "You drive a hard bargain... but I appreciate the wordplay, so I'll stoop just this once. You're lucky I know where to find them without looking..."

As its hand exited the bag with the fruit, something else fell out and clattered to the ground. Froakie, needing his hands to accept the berry, lifted them off Imposter's eyes and allowed both to peer down at the object.

Froakie stuffed a bit of the berry in his mouth to free up his forelegs, and jumped down. They both recognized the object the second he turned it over.

The Poké Ball they received on Route Thirteen. It still had the signature of Vito Winstrate scrawled onto it, only the V and W immediately legible. Imposter furrowed its brow.

"Huh. How'd that get into my key items pocket?"

"You keep your Sitrus Berries in key items?"

"Isn't that where they go?"

Froakie shook his head and dropped the subject. Both gazed at the object in thought. "You know," Froakie started, seeming distracted.

"You know... I've been in a Ball before. It wasn't bad, I just didn't feel comfortable with you having it right after I met you; that's why I destroyed it."

Imposter eyed him suspiciously. "What - are you saying?"

"I'm sayin', you've become Champion without actually catching a single Pokémon. Is that something you wanted to do? 'Cause... being wild is fun and all, but this not evolving thing is really eating me up. If it's okay with you..."

He gingerly touched the Ball as if it contained everyone he ever loved. "...I think I'd like to go in here."

Imposter's eyes grew. "Oh."

It squatted down, and Froakie started munching his berry. "I mean, you do know how to catch a Pokémon, right?"

"Uh... I-I skipped through all the tutorials, so... no."

Froakie shook his head between subtle giggles. "Well, I was paying attention, so I can give it to you now, if you'd like. It's simple."

Imposter eyed him. "...Okay..."

Froakie nodded; "Good. Now, you can do this with any Pokémon, but in this case, I'm going to ask you to please... deform."

Unsure where Froakie was going with this, it was reluctant to do so, but trusted him well enough to go for it anyway. It shrugged its bag off, stepped out of its real clothes, and did so.

"Alright, now we're talking," Froakie said quietly. "What I bet you didn't know is that when you capture a Pokémon... you hafta battle it first!"

Imposter smirked. "A battle, you say?" Its body swished into the air, and by the time it landed, it was Froakie's identical copy. "I'm down."

"Alright!" Froakie raised a fist. "But before we begin, I have to warn you - if you knock me out completely, the Ball won't recognize me as a Pokémon, and won't take me. The trick is to get me down as far as possible before that happens... but we're friends, right, so feel free to go easy, lest I go full-force on you too!"

Imposter nodded. "Alright, I think I have it down. You just tell me when."

"To start? Now's good!"

That was not what Imposter meant, but it had to focus now.

 _A wild Froakie appeared!_

Imposter had been Froakie before once or twice, but never actually battled using his body. This would be interesting.

The obvious move would be Hydro Pump: even though it was not very effective, it was still Froakie's strongest move and gained a boost through sharing its Type with the user. But Imposter changed its mind at the last second - Double Team, because it had a strong desire not to be hit with that kind of move.

It danced around the room - its room - copies of itself, and by extension of Froakie, flying around all sides of him. Imposter did not itself know, but it could not help guessing how disorienting that must have been for him. Good. That meant it was working.

It felt its back right foot getting wet - the Hydro Pump had just barely missed, and the Ditto frantically rolled forward to ensure the dodge. Satisfied with its odds now, it went for its own Hydro Pump.

This one hit, leaving Froakie panting on the ground. "Whew, that's strong..." he breathed. "Okay. This is working. We're good."

He pinpointed Imposter's location, sprinted up, leapt, and performed an expert Double Team of his own.

Imposter looked up and cracked its neck. Froakie was so nimble, so agile. It forgot for a minute about his superior jumping ability, but seeing him in action reminded the Ditto of its own acquired skills in that field.

Its legs were like springs, carrying it up a little past the halfway point to the ceiling. Bounce, what a move! It had no clue Froakie could go that high! In its extasy it hardly noticed that Froakie had followed it up, sailing past it, snickering smugly. He maneuvered himself in the air as gracefully as if he was swimming; they both knew he was showing off by now. He reached for Imposter and grabbed hold, placing both back feet upon its chest, and kicked off.

 _The wild Froakie used Smack Down!_

While he was sent even higher into the air, Imposter was sent hurtling to the ground at breakneck speed.

It landed on its back; the fall was a hard one, but Pokémon were durable, and it was no exception. Wincing a bit, it scrambled to its feet. Froakie... was still up there.

Imposter finally saw him dangling from the transparent curtains flowing out from the ceiling. "'Pasta!" he was crying, "I messed up! This is too high for me! Quick, human up again and grab that Ball - this rag ain't so stable up here!"

Imposter processed these words as they came. It knew 'rag' was unnecessarily insulting to its lovely lavender curtains, but that mattered not right now. It shifted as quickly as it could while being thorough, and snatched the Ball from the ground.

"Okay! Now when I get close enough, I mean really close enough, you just throw the Ball at me. It needs to hit, or else this drop - could knock me out."

Imposter did not know what to say to that, so it said, "Okay, jump!"

"Alright, three - two - one!"

That he leapt at 'one' rather than 'go' gave Imposter some pause, but seeing its friend approaching the floor so rapidly snapped it out of it. It knew how to throw a Poké Ball, of course, but its aiming ability was certainly questionable. Froakie was relying on it, though. It had just the one shot at this. Thinking more clearly now, it jogged up to the point directly underneath him, waited just a second longer than it would have liked, and tossed up the contraption.

Froakie must have seen this, as he swam through the air toward it. The Ball's central button pressed in against his chest, and up it opened.

Imposter never expected to see Froakie, of all Pokémon, dematerialize into a Ball; but then, it never really expected to win the Pokémon League, and here it was. Froakie, in the Ball now, continued falling at a much more controlled pace.

Imposter raised its arms and caught it, then brought it down to eye level for sentimental contemplation.

In its hand, the Ball shook wildly, causing the Ditto drop it in shock. Was that supposed to happen - did that mean it was working, or was something wrong? It rocked again. Imposter bit its lip. A third wobble. A sensation of uncertainty fell over Imposter that filled its insides with dread.

Then the shaking stopped, and a clicking sound emanated from the Ball. The chamber was silent.

 _Gotcha!  
_ _The wild Froakie was caught!_

Imposter released a breath it had not realized it was holding. Okay. It had just successfully became the first Pokémon to catch another as a trainer, its friend being the first to be caught by a Pokémon. Imposter was relatively certain of that, anyway.

It knew Froakie knew how to operate the Ball - as he said before, it was not his first time, and he even knew how to release a Pokémon. So if he wanted to, he could come out at any second. Not wanting to disturb him, Imposter decided just to wait until then. It started by changing back into its real clothes.

Not until Imposter could be caught boredly experimenting with the functions of the human tongue did Froakie choose to make his appearance. "Whoo, what a rush," he declared. "That was something, boy. Cozier than I remember. How long was I out?"

Imposter snapped to. "Um, I dunno. Not long. Ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes!" Froakie repeated. "I thought it was closer to three! Looks like I have to get used to how time goes by in there."

"Wanna know a secret?"

"What'sat?"

"You never get used to that."

The two laughed and laughed. Imposter was the one to continue first. "So I guess that means you're stuck with me."

Froakie quirked his head. "Huh?"

"Well, I'm your trainer now. That means we're attached at the hip, if you know what I mean. You can't just run away and live in the wild, if that's what you wanted when this all ends. I mean, I'm all for giving you your space, but... in the long run, I'm talking about."

Froakie nodded. "Dude, did you think I was just going to up and leave one day? I knew what I was doing, asking you to put me in a Ball. Been thinking it over for _weeks_. I think the bigger issue here is, you're now stuck with me!"

Imposter grinned. "We'll see who's stuck with who. Anyway, you wanted to evolve, right? All we need to do is get your level up once or twice. You ready for some training?"

Froakie looked at it skeptically. "I think you know how I'd rather go about that."

Imposter blushed. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"'Paaastaaa..."

"Uh, are you talking about noodles? I don't see any noodles!"

"Come on, don't tell me-"

"D-D-Don't tell me what?"

"Did you eat _all_ the Rare Candies?"

"Wh- I-"

"You did, didn't you?"

"Th-There were only four..."

Froakie disappointedly shook his head. "Ffffine. But only because I would have done the same thing."

"Hey? That's not cool. I shared one with Limber, at least-"

"But not with me?"

"Limber is an important member of the team who needs the levels for the sake of battling better."

Froakie gazed at it flatly.

"...And it caught me doing it, so I had to in order to keep its mouth shut."

"That sounds about right." Froakie rocked back onto all fours. "Anyway, so what do you do in here now that you're Champion? Stand around waiting for challengers?"

"Pretty much, unless something interesting's happening. I think. I'm new at this."

One could almost hear Kricketot chirping in the following silence.

"That's - really it? That's what everyone's been after so much?"

"Well, I know Champions will travel around their regions at their leisure, when they aren't busy, but the League said they wanted me here for now. For the sake of safety, probably."

Froakie nodded. "It's - awfully quiet in here."

"Oh, _dreadfully_ quiet." Imposter slouched. "I'm so glad you showed up. Not talking to anyone was getting to me, and my feet..."

It lifted one boot, and allowed it to start dripping purple ooze to the floor. "I've been standing for so long. I do like how peaceful it is here, but don't ya think they could afford a chair, or let us take out our Pokémon? It's kinda - boring."

Froakie shook his head. "You're so needy," he sarcastically observed. "Now be a good Champion and stand there like a statue without moving or speaking. Do it now."

This time, Imposter was at least able to make out the exaggeration in his words. It exhaled amusedly. "You always know what to say."

The two's conversation was cut short by a sound coming from the front of the room. A clicking; then the large circular elevator making up part of the floor began to fall.

Froakie and Imposter exchanged glances. That only ever happened when someone was coming. They gulped in simultaneous anxiety.

When it returned, the floating platform did in fact carry a human - a trainer, to boot. Imposter stood a bit taller. It knew very well what was about to happen.

"Hey. Long time no see," the challenger quipped. "Anyway, you know what I'm here for. Let's cut the words. Nothing personal... but I am going to be Champion no matter who stands in my way. I am going to win now."

A battle, then! Imposter fingered its Poké Balls, ready to start. "Ditto," it said through a determined smile.

"Hey, 'Pasta..."

It was Froakie. Imposter turned around. "Yeah?"

"...Good luck."

It smirked, and nodded. "I won't need it."

 _And that battle marked the end of the Pokémon's time as Champion._

 _~End of Part Ten~_

* * *

 **Uughh is it over? It's over! Longest individual chapter I've ever written, capping off the longest story I've ever written, totaling up at over 117,000 words. What a crazy number. I am never writing a Pokémon battle again! Most likely.**

 **(By the way, the challenger at the end is whoever you want it to be. Serena or Calem or anyone else you think should proceed Imposter - it's open for interpretation.)**

 **And yep, there's the big mystery resolved. I think someone did guess Winstrate pretty early on, so good job to that person - everyone else, he's an NPC in the Hoenn games. Ace Trainer Vito, found in Victory Road. I've wanted to do something with him, ever since I realized he was _the_ Winstrate brother who was talked up so much by his family. By the by, every Pok** **é** **mon he has here he's used in one of the games, although his Alakazam was a Kadabra. (And everything that happened in this story isn't actually my headcanon for him, just an excuse to include him here... for fun, I guess.)**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading! For anyone who reviewed, it wasn't a lot of you, but I appreciate your support especially. So, now I have a few things to say.**

 **Remember when I said there was going to be a few extra things happening with this chapter? Well, for anyone who liked this pet project of mine enough to stick around to the end, or if anyone happens to be bored enough to care, here they are. The first is a link to the Google Doc containing my outline for anything and everything having to do with this story. It's a new thing I decided to do, and it's helped me out so much - so if you're interested in seeing a complete breakdown like that, or the extra tidbits of information/clearer explanations of things it has, or perhaps even my own snarky commentary on the events of the piece, you're welcome to it. Just remove all the spaces and fix the dot-com-slash thing, 'cause FFN hates links.**

 **docs . google [dot-com-slash] document / d / 11TpioCaOdiSzaMOlHc59SgLw6kPnkQhM68HQ4JfoFGU / edit ? usp = sharing**

 **The second thing is something I was a little more hesitant to put out, but have anyway - you see, I've been on kind of a drawing kick lately, and the amount of _Imposter_ -related doodles and whatnot I've accumulated is somewhat embarrassing. They, as well as the concept art for Vito (and the redesigns for Sina and Dexio), are now on my previously-barren deviantart. My name there is theWGPM, can't miss it, for anyone in need of something to aim their eyes at now that this is finished. Just warning you, the art _is_ bad! XD**

 **Er, I think that's it. No pressure to see either or anything, just thought it might be nice. Anyway, yo! It's done! Now I can take a breather for... a week, before school starts. ^^'**

 **Well, I can't say I know if or when I'm coming back here, so let me leave you with these words. Carpe Diem!**


End file.
